Aquios High
by Sorceress Myst
Summary: What have I done? Our lovable SO3 characters are in High School! AlbelNel, CliffxMirage, two other pairings that are not important, another surprise pairing, and Faytx?. Ironically brought to you by one of the biggest High School fic haters out there.
1. The Dangers of Getting to School

I normally dislike high school fics with a passion and yet here I am writing one. CURSE MY DREAM MUSE! I'm going to try a few different things here and there and be warned…the characters are most probably going to be OOC. This will of course contain Albel and Nel, Cliff and Mirage, and either Fayt and Sophia or Fayt and Maria, I can't decide which. The setting is Elicoor II in our time period, but there is still a king and queen. Everyone, except Roger and Peppita, is around 17 or 18 years old. Peppita and Roger, who are both 14, are in Jr. High which is right next door to the high school.

Nel: Daughter of one of the richest and highly respected families in Aquaria and Airyglyph. She hopes to be as good a knight as her father.

Albel: Also from a well known family and is famous for his skill with swords. He is feared by both students and teachers.

Cliff: Just your average class clown and troublemaker. He spends more time plotting with his partner in crime, Mirage, than studying.

Mirage: A sophisticated looking girl from a rich family. She prefers to live a troublemaking lifestyle rather than being a proper lady.

Maria: A gifted singer with good leadership abilities. She lives with Cliff's family in Peterny.

Sophia: An average girl who lives in Peterny with her parents. She lives next to her childhood friend, Fayt.

Fayt: A boy whose parents spend more time with their scientific research than at home. He is skilled in video games, technology, and loves to play basketball.

Roger: A slightly annoying (and kinda cute) twerp from Surferio who flirts with Nel, questions Cliff's intelligence, and tries to pick a fight with Albel (but only if he has access to a good shield, like a patrolling runologist or Nel).

Peppita: An aspiring actress who lives with her extended family in Peterny. She comes to the high school for Theater Arts and loves to hang around Fayt and Sophia before and after school hours.

It goes without saying, but I don't own SO3 or any of its characters. And now for your reading pleasure, I present…

Aquios High

"FAYT!" Sophia shouted as she poked at the sleeping form on the bed, "We're going to miss the bus if you don't get up now!"

"Mmm…five more minutes…" came the slurred response from under the pillow. Sophia sighed in frustration before she noticed that one of his video game systems were still on. With a sly smirk, she walked over to the small device and ran her index finger across the surface of the power button.

"Hmm…What would happen if I pressed this little button labeled 'power'?" she asked in the most innocent voice she could make. No sooner than after the words left her mouth, Fayt immediately shot out of bed, revealing the dark circles under his eyes.

"DON'T YOU DARE! It took me forever to get to that level and I still haven't found a save point yet." Fayt picked up a pair of pants and a t-shirt off the floor and walked over to his bathroom when Sophia backed away from the gaming system.

"Have you been staying up all night playing video games again?" she scolded when he came back out and threw his PJs on the floor.

"No! I wasn't just up all night…I was up the rest of this morning too…"

"How many hours of sleep did you get?"

"Let's see…" he counted off with his fingers, "…one…two…three…and a half."

"Three and half? Three and a half hours of sleep?" she inquired worriedly. Fayt crossed his arms and glanced at his alarm clock.

"Well it would have been three and a half if you'd let me sleep for five more minutes like I had asked."

"I hope you're not expecting me to wake you when you fall asleep in class," she muttered as he glanced outside his window.

"Weren't you worried about missing the bus? It's here."

"What? Come on Fayt!" Sophia said as she dragged him out by the arm.

Outside the Leingod home, the bus driver glared at his watch and then faced the closed front door. He was about to leave until he heard Sophia scream "Wait for us!" at the top of her lungs.

"Hurry up ya brats!" he snarled as the two teens raced each other to the bus. Fayt was in the lead, but as he reached the door, the bus driver quickly slammed it shut, leaving Fayt to ram right into it. The bus driver howled with laughter as Sophia arrived and helped Fayt off the ground.

"You meanie!" she yelled as he opened the door again.

"Yeah, yeah, get in before I leave ya," he said in between his laughter. Fayt and Sophia cautiously stepped inside, worried that he would close the door again. It didn't matter if you were a boy or girl, the bus driver disliked anyone under the age of twenty and had a perverse sense of humor. Unfortunately for the students of Aquios High and Aquios Jr. High, the school administration never turned away workers who didn't mind receiving small paychecks so they forced themselves to get used to being nearly run over or cling to their seats when the bus was approaching a corner.

Fayt and Sophia had to grab on to each of the seats for balance as they made their way to the back while the bus driver sped off manically. Ever since Cliff's combination whoopee cushion/stink bomb prank, no one dared to sit in the back of the bus so Fayt and his friends owned the back seat. Everyone was already there. Cliff was sitting by the window at one end, next to Maria. There were two empty spaces between Maria and Peppita in front of a securely duck taped emergency exit and at the other window seat was Roger. Roger and Cliff were both snickering at Fayt's misfortune as Peppita glared at them and tried to defend Fayt, "The same thing could've happened to you, you know…"

Maria was dead to the world with her head resting against the seat in front of her as Fayt plopped down next to her. He poked her several times to see if she was still breathing.

"Fayt, leave her alone. She's tired," Sophia whispered as she sat down next to him.

"So? You wouldn't let me sleep in, so why should she get the luxury?" he poked her a few more times, but received no response. Cliff grinned at his attempts before rummaging through his back pack.

"I know what will get her to wake up," he said proudly as he held up a pair of dirty brown socks. He held the socks under her nose and she immediately sat up and scooted away from Cliff until she was almost in Fayt's lap.

"What IS that?" she screeched as everyone else caught a whiff.

"It's Coach Adray's legendary lucky socks. You know, the ones he wears to every game and never washes them. I took them yesterday when he wasn't looking. You see, me an' Mirage are gonna… What? What's wrong with you guys?" he asked when he noticed everyone has scooted far away enough to where Roger was getting crushed.

"You lummox!" he shouted from under Peppita's arm, "Are you trying to kill us or are you so stupid that your brain hasn't registered what it smells like yet?"

At this point, all the other students noticed the odor and a panic erupted as he safely tucked away the offending garment into his back pack.

"What is that smell!"

"I'm gonna puke!"

"Dude! Did somebody die?" The driver looked into the rear view mirror at the students after the last comment.

"Sorry 'bout that. It must be the remains of that boy I ran over a month ago."

Peppita paled and faced Sophia, "He's joking right?"

"Of course he is. I mean, he may not like us, but he would never…" Sophia paused before changing the subject, "Do you have any of that body spray left? It might cover up the stench."

Peppita blinked a few times before grabbing her purse, "Yeah, I do have some. Ursus just bought me a new bottle yesterday."

After a few squirts of Peppita's body spray, the air was once again breathable. True, the scent wasn't that great to the boys, but it was better than the rotting mold and mildew of the sweat socks. Everyone sat in companionable silence as the bus trudged through Irisa Fields. Sometimes either Fayt or Maria would nod off and then jolt awake while Cliff would chuckle as he drew up plans for the captive socks. Eventually, Roger yawned and looked out the back window and noticed a black limo following them.

"It that Nel?" he asked excitedly before climbing across everyone's lap to look out Cliff's window where the limo was pulling up beside. Anyone on the same side of the bus could see that the limo had posters taped to the windows. In the first window, behind the driver was a poster that said 'WARNING: Your bus driver is an escapee from the Kirlsa asylum for people who can't decide if they are holes surrounded by asses or asses surrounded by holes.' The second window contained 'How do you get Principal Lasselle out of a tree? Wave at him!' and the last window, which could only be seen by the people in the back, had a pretty blonde girl waving at them.

"Aw…It's only Mirage," Roger complained before he opened the window and made faces at her. Mirage responded by holding up another sign that said 'Roger, I'd insult you, but you're not bright enough to notice.'

"Hey!" he shouted as everyone cracked up. Cliff removed Roger from his lap by picking him up by his tail and then waved to Mirage with his free hand.

"He, he, that's my girl! Trained her well," he said against Roger's demands and kicks. No one had realized that they were already in Aquios, but Fayt noticed that Mirage's limo was once again behind the bus and was growing smaller. That meant…

"OH GOD HE'S GOING TO TURN!" Cliff quickly dropped Roger to the ground and used one hand to grab on to the open window and used his left arm to hug the seat in front of him. Maria wrapped her arms tightly around Cliff's chest while Fayt did the same around her waist. Sophia and Peppita followed suit, but poor Roger didn't make it. With hysterical laughter, the bus driver made a sharp turn into the school grounds, leaving the students who were unprepared to fly into the side of the bus.

"Well, my job is done…NOW GET OUT!" Slowly, the students began detaching themselves from whatever they were clinging to and headed for the exit.

"Oh my! Are you alright Roger?" Peppita inquired when she saw that he was stuck upside down like a sun catcher on the window. Sophia gently pried him off and sat him down on the seat.

He sat there in shock until he let out a shaky, "Y-yeah, I'm f-fine."

Sophia and Peppita checked him for any injuries as the students filed out until they were the only ones left. Fayt, Cliff, and Maria were reluctant to leave because one of them may be the bus driver's next target.

"Eh, you go first Cliff," Fayt suggested.

"Nah, ladies first," he said while pushing Maria forward.

"I think you should go first Cliff. Or else I'll tell Mirage an interesting little secret about you," she threatened. Maria lost her parents when she was really little and was adopted into Cliff's family, though she kept her last name. Even though she wasn't his real sister, she pulled off the role pretty well by making sure she had plenty of blackmail against him.

"On second thought…I have an even better idea," he smirked evilly as he pretended to be focused on something outside, "Hey, is that Nel out there in that bikini?"

"WHAT?" Roger shrieked as he slapped the girls' hands away and started running towards the front, "I gotta see this…I'M COMING NEL!"

Sure enough, their fears were confirmed when the bus driver closed the door on him just as he was about to leave. All except Sophia, who looked a little worried, slowly shook their heads.

"I swear he's just like Lieber except he's after Nel instead of Maria!" Cliff sniggered, earning a glare from her.

"Don't remind me…" she growled as Fayt sighed.

"I hope the whole 'slamming the door in our faces' is out of his system now," he muttered as he made his way to the front. Thankfully, the bus driver was too busy laughing to notice them leaving so they were able to escape unscathed.

"Hey, if you are so afraid to get on and off the bus every morning, then why don't you drive here? You are old enough aren't you?" Peppita inquired once the bus sped off out of their sight.

"Can't, don't have enough money for a car," Maria said while Cliff scratched the back of his head.

"Not only do I not have enough money, but my parents don't trust me in a car, especially after that incident where I ran down eight neighborhood fences and invoked the wrath of Prissy the attack poodle."

"I have a car and a license," Sophia began, "But I don't like to drive, especially when there's people like our bus driver out in the streets."

"I suppose I could drive your car, but I'm not covered on your insurance and my family would never buy me a car," Fayt explained while watching Roger attempt to climb on a nearby car.

"There's Nel!" He pointed to the front door of the high school where the mentioned red head was talking to Mirage. He jumped down and was about to run to her, but Peppita grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him towards their school, "Hey! Let me go!"

"Sorry, Roger, but you're only one tardy away from getting a detention," she chirped before waving at the others, "Bye! See you later in Theater Arts Sophia!"

"Who are you? My personal hall monitor? Let go!"

"Bye Peppita! Bye Roger!" Sophia called as they left. Maria glanced around the school yard for any stalkers.

"Speaking of obsessive issues, let's go inside before Lieber shows up," Maria suggested before walking ahead to Nel and Mirage. When she arrived, Mirage was chuckling nervously about something while Nel looked a little peeved.

"So…your name just kind of …slipped out," Mirage finished, earning a groan from her.

"And so you got rid of your new boyfriend your parents picked for you by telling him about me. Is that it?"

"Sorry…"

"Mirage! I don't need another boy lusting after me right now, trying to get rid of Roger is already a handful as it is."

"Poor Nel, doomed to have-not one-but _two_ love struck (or just plain perverted) boys following your every move…" Maria teased before Mirage cleared her throat.

"Um, Maria, would it be a bad time to mention that there was _another_ boy and I-"

"No Mirage! No…I'd rather be blissfully unaware."

"Oh, okay, but if someone named Jean Claude ever calls, don't answer," she warned before she saw Cliff and the others approaching, "Hi Cliff! Did you get that thing I sent you?"

"You mean the package for operation: Lasselle's an ass? It's right here next to our stinky treasure from yesterday," he reassured as he patted his back pack.

"Good. Now all we need is a patsy and our plan will be a success," she said before she and Cliff unconsciously drifted their vision to Fayt who looked like he was sleeping while standing up. Cliff and Mirage value their friendship with Fayt and the others and if they ever needed them to be a trigger for a prank, then they would give them harmless roles that wouldn't get them into trouble. Unfortunately, their pranks are so elaborate and dangerous looking, that there were seldom any willing volunteers, leaving them to trick their friends into helping.

"So…what are today's plans for after school?" Nel eventually inquired, breaking the silence.

"I thought we'd just hang out at our usual place," Maria replied, earning many agreeing nods.

"That's good, I have a lot of free time today. My father is going out to see an old friend, leaving me with nobody to spar with," Nel explained. Suddenly, Sophia let out a gasp as Fayt began to collapse to the ground. Thankfully, Cliff was near by to catch him.

"Yo! Wake up!" he shouted as he shook Fayt, "…Damn! He's out cold. Mirage! Get Coach Adray's socks out, they're in the front pocket."

"Roger." Before she could touch the zipper on Cliff's back pack, Fayt shot up.

"No, no! I'm awake! I'm awake…" he yawned, earning a tsk from Cliff.

"Three hours of sleep each night ain't cutting it for you."

"Oh, but Cliff!" Sophia taunted in a mocking tone, "He got three and a _half_ hours of sleep last night!"

Fayt glared at her in annoyance as Cliff smirked and winked in Mirage's direction. She chuckled and nodded back in response. Cliff then slapped his hand on Fayt's back and started guiding him away.

"What you need is one of my special energy drinks! Let's go over to the home economics room and I'll whip up a glass that should keep you up for most of the day. Keep in mind that you'll owe me for this…"

Soon Fayt and Cliff were out of the girls' sight, allowing them to gossip in peace. Mirage stood off to the side of the circle, torn from either staying or following Cliff. Sophia decided to help out a little and walked over to Nel.

"Nel, we need to get rid of Mirage. I have a Cliff related question I want to ask Maria."

"Maria, have you heard about the family that just moved in Aquios? I think they have a son who's going to attend school here. I heard he's cute," Nel said after clearing her throat to get Maria's attention.

"Um, I'm going to go help Cliff with that energy drink," Mirage said before Maria could respond.

Once Mirage was out of sight, Sophia jumped in front of Maria, "So what secret were you talking about when you were threatening Cliff on the bus?"

"Oh, nothing much, just this huge crush he has on Mirage," she explained. Nel almost dropped the book she was holding while Sophia squealed.

"Huge crush! When did this happen?" Sophia asked frantically before she clamped her hands on her mouth so other people wouldn't listen in.

"Five months ago. Actually this is turning out to be more than just a crush for him. He can't start a conversation at the dinner table without mentioning her name in every sentence."

"That's strange, I haven't noticed any changes in his behavior," Nel pointed out as Maria shrugged.

"He does stare at her in class, but other than that, there only subtle changes like taking her place in detention or giving her things without expecting her to do something in return."

"How cute! When are we going to help them along?" Sophia wondered.

"Huh? I hope you're not thinking about interfering. If Cliff found out that I told you guys, he'll post pictures of me in my PJs all over the school," she warned.

"Ooh…and you are not a morning person," Nel cringed as a mental image flashed through her mind. Sophia let out a disappointed sigh and let the subject drop. Silence once again reigned until Maria faced Nel.

"So how did you know that a new student was joining?"

"Actually, I just made that up to get rid of Mirage like Sophia had asked. You know how she bored she gets when we talk about boys," Nel explained as she ran her hand through her hair.

"But there really is a guy coming to our school and rumor is he's a real hottie," Sophia added, earning a disbelieving stare from Nel.

"Really? I must be psychic then."

"Eliza saw him yesterday, but I guess she was too shy to go talk to him. She told me his name, but I forgot what it was. I think his last name was Nox or something," Maria guessed.

"Nox! As in Albel Nox?" Nel shouted suddenly, startling them.

"Yeah, that's it! Do you know him?"

Nel had their undivided attention as she calmed down. She fingered a strand of red hair nervously under their attentive gaze, "Well…I would like to say we were childhood friends, but it was more like childhood acquaintances. Our families are very close, but we weren't. He would avoid me during visits and glare at me when I try to carry a conversation with him. He became nicer over time and we were almost to the point of becoming friends, but then my family moved out of Airyglyph and into Aquios."

"Really? What is he like? Is he a quiet type or could he be shy?" Maria wondered while Sophia tried looking around the school yard for someone fitting his description.

"He's more of the scary type. I was the only child brave enough to stand beside him. Albel is the reason why we have so many new teachers from Airyglyph working here. If looks could kill, then his glares could turn you into a smoldering pile of ash."

"If that's true, then how come you were not affected? Sounds like he was giving you special treatment," Sophia said in a sly tone. Nel stared at her like she was growing another head.

"It's definitely not what you're thinking! I knew, despite how much he glared at me, that he wouldn't harm me because his father told him not to, and he always obeys his father." Sophia and Maria smiled and cast unconvinced glances at each other before they accepted her story for now.

"I dunno, it kinda sounds like you like him," Maria teased, but before Nel could retort, an all too familiar voice called out from the school yard.

"Maria! Maria! Over here! Maria!" Lieber.

"Oh crap! Lieber's here," Maria panicked.

"Quick, run to the girls' restroom. I'll slow him down," Nel ordered. Maria nodded and ran inside with Sophia on her heels. Nel ran inside too, but closed the door and pulled out a ring of keys. Cliff borrowed one of the janitor's set of keys and had Mirage make copies for everyone so they could sneak in and out of school without alerting the teachers. She locked the large glass doors just as Lieber reached the stairway and ran quickly to the restrooms as he frantically knocked on the doors.

* * *

"Father, why did we have to move to this backwater city? Why couldn't we just stay in Airyglyph?" 

A black limo cruised down the streets of Aquios. Its destination was to Aquaria's best high school, Aquios High. Glou Nox sighed and rubbed his forehead. He was getting a headache from trying to convince his son that they needed to move away from gloomy streets of Airyglyph. He didn't bother to mention that they would be closer to their friends, the Zelphers.

"Besides, your mother threatened to cook dinner every night if we didn't move here," he finished.

"But now I will be surrounded by strangers at school, can't I at least get a private tutor," Albel argued. It wasn't as if he had friends back at Airyglyph High, but at least the students there knew better than to look at him. He will have to suffer at least two months before the students here figure out that he doesn't want to associate with them. The girls there will be especially annoying.

"As if any tutor would be brave enough to teach you! You won't completely be surrounded by strangers, Lady Nel attends Aquios High School," Glou added, but didn't receive much of a response. Albel just closed his eyes and crossed his arms. At least he wasn't arguing anymore.

"Zelpher, huh? So _that's_ why we moved here, so you and mother can go off and converse with them again," he accused, earning a sigh from his dad. Glou rubbed his beard, it was pointless trying to hide things from Albel, he would find out sooner or later.

"Okay you got me, but it still wouldn't hurt you to have at least one friend at school and I know you and Nel get along just fine."

"We are not friends!" Albel snapped as his father chuckled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I meant 'lovers'." Albel's eyes widened and his cheeks reddened from either anger or embarrassment.

"That's it! Turn this car around, I'm NOT going to school!"

"You will or I will send you to Kirlsa to live with Uncle Woltar," Glou threatened.

Albel's eye twitched, "You wouldn't dare…"

The limo stopped in front of the school and the driver came around and opened the door for him.

"I would dare and I would tell him to treat you like a baby. Now go and would it kill you to smile?"

Albel gritted his teeth and slightly curved his lips upward. He looked like he was being tortured.

"Maybe," he muttered before sliding out and then stormed to the front entrance with a murderous glare on his face.

* * *

So what do you think? I really didn't think I had another story idea in me until I had a dream about Albel and Nel taking notes in a biology class. I don't have a plot for this yet and updates may be very slow, but I'll wing it for now. C ya! 


	2. Albel's First Day part 1

Yea! Lots of good reviews and lots of good ideas! Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone! There might be some more additions to my pairings list, but you'll have to wait until you see it in the fic. Anyway, here's the next chapter and I don't own SO3 or any of its characters, but I can still dream about owning Albel, can't I?

Chapter 2

"Yo Steeg!" Cliff called out as he entered the home economics classroom with Mirage and a half awake Fayt. Steeg looked up from his extra credit work and stood up to greet Cliff and the others.

"Sup, Cliff! Mirage! How's it goin'?"

"Just fine! Fayt here needs some of our energy drink so he can stay awake in class today," Cliff explained as he held up Fayt by the collar of his shirt, "Do you have the secret ingredient on you?"

"Yup! It's here in Marietta's purse," he answered as he searched through the mentioned purse that he 'happened' to have until he found a small package that contained a special blend of ginseng and dried citrus fruits, "We're running low on this stuff so you should go ask Welch to make some more."

Welch Vineyard, the class inventor/genius, was the gang's secret supplier of gadgets, herbal compounds, and other various things. She mastered every skill except Smithery and she needed a little more practice in Cooking. She can use her combination of Alchemy and Crafting skills to make cheap jewelry for bribing teachers. Her Writing abilities are good for last minute essays that are due in forty minutes. She does Compounding for the herbal compounds. And who could forget her Engineering abilities? She has invented many items like an eraser recycler, silent mini-copters that can carry notes across the classroom, and small communicators so anyone can reach her at anytime.

"Mirage, go see if that pitcher of lemonade is still in the fridge," Cliff ordered before he moved Fayt to sit in a desk and turned to Steeg, "Watch him and make sure he doesn't fall out of the desk, would ya?"

"Sure thing," he replied as he returned to his work. Mirage kneeled behind the teacher's desk and opened a small compartment that hid a refrigerator.

"We're in luck, there's a half a jug left," she announced as she pulled the lemonade out and followed Cliff to the back of the classroom, where all the kitchen counters were. He started to mix the compounds and some sugar into the beverage while Mirage grabbed a spoon for him to stir with.

"So…," Steeg drawled as he became bored with his assignment, "How's Maria?"

"Just fine," Cliff responded as he took the glass of orange juice Mirage handed him and poured it into the energy drink.

"Did she ever get that restraining order on my brother?"

"Nah, she wants to, but that would mean for her to actually get up and do a lot of paper work. 'Sides, she's a little reluctant to get it, since we'd loose a pretty decent drummer in the band."

"I see…Well tell her I'll try to keep Lieber as far away from her as possible."

"Keyword 'try'," Mirage teased before she pulled out a large bag of sugar and whispered in Cliff's ear. He pulled away quickly and rewarded her with a shocked look before grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Mirage, you're a genius! I love the way your mind works!" he shouted before he comically kissed her on the forehead. Steeg raised one eyebrow at them as Cliff poured half of the bag of sugar into the drink. He then glanced at Fayt's snoring form.

"Uh, so how are you going to get him to drink that?" Steeg asked curiously as he lifted one of Fayt's arms and let it fall unto the desk.

"Oh that's easy…COACH ADRAY'S SOCKS!" Cliff yelled before Fayt jumped up.

"I'm awake! …Really, I am!"

Steeg only blinked once before he shrugged and went back to his work. Soon there was loud stomping out in the hallway followed by an angry female voice.

"STEEG! I KNOW YOU HAVE MY PURSE!"

"Oh, crap! Someone told Marietta. Gotta go. See ya Cliff and Mirage!" he called as he rushed past them and left the classroom through the back entrance. There was a brief moment of silence before a loud squeak that could only come from sneakers dragging on the floor and the sound of Steeg screaming, "I didn't do it!" was heard through the door. Mirage chuckled while Cliff playfully sighed and shook his head.

Fayt was about to nod off again when Cliff placed a glass of a yellow-orange liquid in front of him. He glanced at Cliff and then at Mirage before he stared at the so called 'energy drink'. With a shrug and a prayer to Apris, he picked up the glass and chugged its contents quickly. In no more than five seconds, Fayt dropped the glass as his eyes widened and his pupils dilated while a slow maniacal grin appeared on his face.

"So how do you feel?" Cliff asked.

"Ifeelgreat! Thankyousomuch,youareagreatfriend!"

"Huh?" Mirage said as he jumped out of his desk and did cartwheels around the room.

"Lookatthetime! Classwillbestartinginfiveminutes! Seeyouinhomeroom!" Fayt said as he ran out the door. Cliff and Mirage slowly looked at each other in surprise.

"…I think you put a little too much sugar in that energy drink. Just a little," Mirage said while emphasizing 'little' with her fingers.

"I think you're right…"

* * *

Clair Lasbard sighed as the warning bell rang. Although she became a teacher's aide five months ago, she was still a little nervous to run a class all by herself. Thankfully, all she had to do was take roll for the homeroom class and then help her father in the gym. The students began pouring in one by one and quietly sat down in their seats. 

"Hello Miss Clair." Clair looked up from her roll sheet and found Nel standing by her desk.

"Oh, hello Nel. How are you?"

Clair and Nel used to be best friends before Clair graduated two years ago. It was kind of awkward to talk like friends now that she was a teacher's aide for her father's classes but outside of class, they always found time to gossip a little.

"I'm fine. Are you still feeling nervous about teaching?"

"Not so much anymore," she answered before a blue blur whizzed past them and ran in circles around Clair's desk.

"Fayt? Are you okay?" Clair asked worriedly.

"I'm fine! How are you today? That's good to hear!" he said while shaking both her hands and then running to sit in the desk beside Sophia and behind Maria.

"It sounds like his speech is slowing down a bit," Mirage replied as she and Cliff came in.

"That's good to hear. I was actually getting worried." Mirage sat in front of Maria while Cliff took the seat beside Maria so he could monitor Fayt. Nel eventually walked over and sat in front of Sophia and then faced Maria.

"Dare I ask what happened to Fayt?"

"Don't look at me! Ask Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde," Maria said as she gestured to Cliff and Mirage before Clair walked to the front of the class and cleared her throat.

"Okay, is everyone here?" she inquired as she noticed three empty seats near the window. The door opened and Marietta came in while dragging Steeg with her by the ear. Steeg was also dragging Lieber in by the ear to make sure he doesn't go bother Maria as they approached the empty seats.

"Sorry we're late Miss Clair," Marietta apologized.

"That's alright, just as long as you show up to class…" she muttered before starting the roll call, "…Marietta, Steeg, and Lieber are here… Sophia."

"Here."

"Cliff."

"Here."

"Mirage."

"Aqui."

"What?"

"It's Spanish for 'here'," Mirage explained before Clair continued.

"Fayt."

"I'm here! Right here! See? Right here!"

"Uh-huh…Welch.

"Present!"

"Maria."

"Here."

"Nel."

"Here."

"Eliza, Mayu, Vanilla, Puffy, and Meryl?"

"Here!" they all shouted in unison.

"That's everybody," Clair finished as she walked back to her seat. No one bothered to speak though Fayt kept fidgeting in his desk, so it was all silent in the classroom as Principal Lasselle entered.

"…And speaking of dumbasses…" Steeg suddenly muttered loud enough for only the students to hear. The entire class started snickering, earning a suspicious glare from Lasselle.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Clair wondered when he faced the class.

"I only came to inform the students that we have a new student joining today. Albel Nox is from a highly respected family like the Zelphers and you must treat him with as much respect as you give to Lady Nel. Any reported jokes or pranks on him will earn you detention _and_ Saturday school, do I make myself clear!" he shouted.

"Yes, sir," everyone mumbled in a monotone voice.

"Good." He began to leave, but just as he reached the door, he faced the class one more time, "Oh, before I forget, Miss Zelpher, report to the office."

"What?" she squeaked as everyone, but Clair, Maria, and Sophia shouted, "Ooh, Nel's in trouble!"

"I told you to hide the body after you run over it!" Cliff teased as she stood up and headed out the door.

"Oh, be quiet Cliff!" she snapped while she stormed down the hall.

Nel wondered why she was called to the office. Mirage or Cliff couldn't have pinned the blame on her for that prank they did last week, could they? When she finally arrived at the office, she was astonished to find a pair of ruby red eyes staring back at her.

"Nox?"

"Zelpher," Albel returned bemusedly. He smirked at her bewildered stare until the secretary returned.

"Oh, Lady Nel! Just in time. I was wondering if you'd show Lord Albel around the school and help him find his classes," she asked with pleading eyes, meaning that _she_ didn't want to show him around. Nel glanced behind her at Albel and noticed that he was staring back at them with his usual cold stare. He must have scared the poor lady off.

"Okay, I can do that." The secretary let out a sigh of relief before handing her a piece of paper.

"Thank you, here is his schedule." She then left the office to run some errands. Albel silently came up behind Nel and peered over her shoulder to see what was on his new schedule.

It said:

Homeroom – Clair

1st period – Literature – Count Noppen

2nd period – Government – Duke Vox

3rd period – S.D.F.C. – Farleen

4th period – Advanced Biology – Lady Elena

5th period – Fencing – Tynave

6th period – Calculus – Farleen

7th period – Art – Stanice

8th period – P.E. – Adray

Nel blinked to make sure her eyes weren't tricking her. This looked exactly like her schedule. He had every class with her?

"What is S.D.F.C.?" he inquired softly next to her ear, reminding her how close he was.

"I'm not sure, no one ever asked what it means, but it's mostly a free period where Maria and her band practices and sometimes Miss Farleen would teach us something. Right now she's teaching everyone how to dance. …Anyway showing you around won't be a problem. It seems that you have every class with me."

He let out a grunt that could be deciphered either as amused or he didn't care as he finally backed away from her. She realized that she had been holding her breath and released it when he moved away. He still had that effect on her. What she didn't tell Maria and Sophia was that she actually did have a crush on him before she moved out of Airyglyph. Even though he seldom said anything nice, he always would unintentionally do something that would make her go weak at the knees…

"Are you going to show me around or are you going to stand there gaping like a Lousyd?" …and infuriate the crap out of her. At least he wasn't calling her a fool anymore.

"Alright, follow me."

"About time, maggot." That earned him a death glare that could rival his own. She made sure to punch him in the shoulder on her way out, but all she got in response was a charming dark chuckle that made her suppress shivers that had nothing to do with fear.

As she led him down the hallway, she began to understand why they picked her to show him around. Expecting Albel to listen to another student who he probably thought was beneath him wouldn't help him get acquainted with this school, but making someone who was practically his equal show him around would. Besides, if he didn't listen to her, she would just hit him upside the head. The best thing about that tactic was that she wouldn't get in trouble for it because Glou always gave her permission to whack Albel whenever he stepped out of line. The bell rang, alerting her that homeroom was over, so she began leading him to Count Noppen's classroom. She knew she had left her things in homeroom, but she also that knew either Sophia or Maria would bring it to her since they had first period with her.

The thought of her friends worried her a little. They would expect her to introduce Albel to them, but she was sure he didn't want to meet anyone. Maybe if she was lucky, all she would have to do is show him where his classes were and then he can go off to sit near the corner of the classroom and glare at the teacher like he did in elementary school. If she didn't sit close by him, then she could introduce him without him knowing.

When they entered the Count Noppen's room, the Count was glancing disdainfully at the students that were already there while holding his lace handkerchief up to his nose to cover the supposed 'stench' of them. He didn't like the students here and always referred to them as 'filthy urchins'. He did have one favorite student though, and that was Nel, but that was only because she was higher in nobility than he was. When he noticed Nel in the doorway, he was about to greet her, but when he saw Albel, he dropped his handkerchief and backed into the backboard with wide eyes.

"Lord Albel! What are you doing here!"

"…Hello Count Noppen. Glad to see you are still……alive," Albel replied in a dark tone with an evil smirk. Noppen used to teach in Airyglyph, but then he moved to Aquaria because Albel scared him.

"J-just t-take your s-seat," he stuttered before running to his podium. Nel only shrugged and left Albel to go sit in her seat near the back of the class. She was soon surprised to find that he had followed her and sat down in Maria's usual desk beside her.

"What?" he snapped when he caught her staring at him.

"Oh, nothing," she replied as she faced the front. When Maria and Sophia came in, they only took one look at Albel before they grinned at each other. Neither girl said a word as Sophia took her seat next to Nel and as Maria gave Nel her purse and back pack and sat down in the desk in front of her. It was the same way with Cliff and Fayt in Government class, minus the grinning to each other. Albel once again sat next to her, but she was more distracted by the hostility between him and Duke Vox to care.

Vox was almost the same as Albel when it came to people skills, but Vox used his personality to tame his class into submission, so they would pay attention to his lectures. 2nd period went by fast, but when 3rd period arrived, Nel had no choice, but to finally introduce him to everyone. The moment she and Albel entered the Auditorium, Fayt and the others cornered them.

"So, aren't you gonna introduce us to your new friend?" Cliff inquired bluntly, wasting no time. Nel sighed as she glanced at Albel who had one eyebrow raised in curiosity. He was no doubt wondering why a bunch of worms were blocking his way.

"Everyone, this is Albel Nox. Albel, these are my friends," she pointed from left to right, "Sophia, Fayt, Maria, Cliff, Mirage, Steeg, Marietta, and …where's Lieber?"

"Dunno, but it's not like you'd consider him a 'friend' anyway," Maria responded.

"So, are you having a good first day?" Cliff wondered politely as he held his hand out to Albel.

"Yes…being surrounded by maggots is a _bloody_ good time," he mumbled under his breath. Only Nel heard what he had said.

"Come again?" he asked as he dropped his hand.

"He doesn't like to talk much," Nel said quickly before Albel could repeat what he said more loudly.

"Oh, I see. Well you can stand there and look pretty while the rest of us play around a bit, kay?" he replied as he slapped Albel gently on the shoulder.

"Don't touch me, worm!" he snapped, threateningly as Cliff started chuckling from his outburst. Maria, sensing that Cliff was going to try to pester Albel for the rest of the period, quickly grabbed his arm.

"We are going to play a few songs, get your violin out Cliff," she ordered before she turned to where Fayt was standing, "Fayt you…never mind, you're already doing it."

She watched as the hyper active blue haired boy ran around the Auditorium, gathering wires, plugs, and his laptop computer. Cliff stopped laughing on the dime. He loved his parents dearly, like any son would, but he couldn't help but curse their existence when they forced him to take violin lessons. Despite his hatred toward the small stringed instrument, he was quite good at playing it.

"Oh good, you guys are doing something productive. I was about to tell you that today is a free day," a rather high pitched voice called from the large double doors.

"Hi Miss Farleen!" Marietta shouted as the violet haired woman started walking towards Albel and Nel.

"So you're the new student, huh? Pleased to meet you. My name is Farleen and this is S.D.F.C. which means that this is a Super Duper Fun Class!" she cheered, earning twitches from Albel and from a handful of the people present. True her voice disturbed many, but she was too nice to be disliked. She even won a Teacher of the Month award last November.

"_That's _what S.D.F.C. means?" Steeg inquired before she faced him.

"Uh-huh! You wouldn't believe how long I waited for someone to ask what it meant, so I got tired of waiting and decided to use it in the introductions."

"Maria! I'm here! Let's start playing a song!" Lieber screamed all of a sudden as he burst through the doors.

"Hold it right there mister! You're tardy!" Farleen yelled as she chased after him.

Once everything was ready, they started playing a song that Maria wrote. Fayt worked on the special effects on his laptop with Albel watching him type in the computer every now and then. The program he used was top of the line and was very hard to find. Maria, of course was the lead singer along with Nel, who was also playing the piano at the same time. Sophia and Mirage were the back up singers and Cliff played the violin while Steeg played the electric guitar, Lieber played the drums, and Marietta played the electric keyboard. Nel could tell Albel was staring at her as she played her piano solo. His staring made her nervous and she almost missed some notes.

4th period came and for once, Nel was glad to have Albel around. Since she was the only one in the group who took Advanced Biology, she was a little lonely. Lady Elena taught this class and she was a great teacher, but sometimes she would get so caught up in her lectures, that she wouldn't notice if someone dozed off or threw a paper wad across the room. Most of the time, the class would take notes written on the overhead projector and study for tests, but then there would be some days when Lady Elena brings out a cool project that would put other science professors to shame.

After 4th period was lunch. Nel didn't bother to ask Albel if he wanted to sit with her and her friends at the lunch table. She had (dare she say it) a 'hunch' that he would anyway. He had been trailing her like a puppy all day. Okay, maybe not a puppy, more like a short tempered, fire-breathing dragon. When they sat down at the table, Nel realized that the others were stuck behind a long line. That meant she was going to be alone with Albel for a bit longer. Her lunch was a roast beef sandwich from the leftovers of last night's dinner with some warm apple cider that Sophia made in home economics. She looked at Albel for a moment and noticed that he didn't have anything to eat. He only sat there with his elbows on the table and his chin resting on top of his hands as he stared out the nearby window.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"I don't eat cafeteria food. I wait until I get home," he answered softly. Nel wondered if she should be worried that he didn't call her worm, fool, or maggot yet.

"You could always bring your lunch," she suggested as he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes through his black blonde hair.

"That would be too suspicious. I can't possibly suck anyone's blood in the middle of the cafeteria," he grinned. He was referring to the time when her father, Nevelle, made a joke about Albel being a vampire and she thought it was true. It wasn't her fault that she had an overactive imagination when she was six! She rolled her eyes before she playfully shoved him, receiving a wider grin from him. That was the first time they ever had a normal conversation without arguing and in Nel's opinion, it was kind of nice.

"Hello! Why's your face all red Nel?" Fayt inquired as he sat across from them. Once he was seated, he immediately began digging into his food. It was apparent that the energy drink was still in his system. She hadn't realized that she was blushing until he had pointed it out and tried to cover it up.

"It is? I must've gotten sunburned yesterday…" The fact that Albel was still staring at her wasn't helping her control her blush.

"Nah, it wasn't red this morning," he replied though a mouth-full of sloppy joe. She glared at Fayt as she hoped her blushing didn't get worse until Maria unceremoniously dropped her tray on the table and proceeded to sit next to Nel. Next was Sophia, who plopped herself down next to Fayt and dropped her milk carton onto his tray. Then Mirage, with Cliff right behind her, took a seat next to Fayt and began eating her food quickly, but daintily as Cliff leaned on the table with his hands.

"Alright, anyone who wants to see operation: Lasselle's an ass, finish up in seven minutes because that's when we begin," he announced before sitting beside Mirage. Cliff usually ate his lunch while in line so he was done by the time he reached the cashier. Now that Maria had mentioned Cliff's crush on Mirage, Nel noticed that he was sitting closer to Mirage than he usually would. He even had his arm casually resting against the back of her chair as he contacted Welch with the communicator.

When he turned the device on, the screen flickered before the young inventor's face appeared.

"Welch? Have you finished the preparations?" He asked in a businesslike manner.

"Yes, sir! I'm all ready on this end! This is the perfect time to test out my newest model-"

"Okay, see you in a few seconds," he interrupted before he cut the device off. Mirage was stuffing the last bit of her meal in her mouth when Cliff suddenly brought his arm down and pulled her against him. He rested his head on top of hers as used his free hand to gesture towards the whole cafeteria.

"Mirage, this is it. If we pull this off, then we will become the ultimate prank masters," he dramatically fisted his free hand, "No one will be able to top what we are about to do!"

"Mmmph mmmf, muf mmmph!" she mumbled with her mouth still full. He let go of her and looked at her with a confused expression.

"What?"

She swallowed quickly before answering, "I said 'That's nice, but let me swallow first!'"

"Oh…Let's go. Come on Fayt." He grabbed Fayt by the collar of his shirt and dragged him away before he could finish his lunch.

Everyone except Nel and Albel picked up their trays and headed towards the exit.

"You're actually going?" She heard Albel inquire as she started putting away her trash. When she glanced back at him, she noticed that he had not budged an inch, but moved his head slightly so he could look at her.

"Yeah, I'm going. Mirage promised that this was going to be really entertaining, even if it fails," she replied as she stood up.

"Bah…" was all he said before he stood up as well and began following her out.

* * *

Sorry for the cliffhanger! This chapter was getting really long, so I decided to split it into two chapters. The second half is almost finished and I'll post it as soon as possible. 


	3. Albel's First Day part 2

Here's the second half, sorry for the delay! I don't SO3 or any of its characters…not even Albel.

Chapter 3

It was only a few minutes until the next bell as Maria, Nel, Albel, and Sophia stood in their 'front row seats' on the second floor balcony. Cliff, Mirage, Welch, and Fayt were stationed by a support beam on the first floor as they finished their final preparations. Cliff was humming a happy tune as he strung Mirage's piano wire through the socks and handed the other end to Welch. Welch gave the wire to her little robot gadget and coded the proper programming while Mirage went over Fayt's lines.

"Okay, you remember your lines, right?" she asked once again for the fifth time.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" he nodded his head enthusiastically. She grabbed his face with both hands and stared straight into his green eyes.

"Pay attention! You remember your lines."

"I remember my lines," he repeated.

"You are the greatest actor in this school."

"Yes, yes I am."

"Fayt…" she warned.

"I meant 'I am the greatest actor' Yes! ME! I AM THE GREATEST ! Muahahahahha!"

"Shhhhh!" Cliff and Mirage said at the same time. The sound of a door closing was heard before they saw Lasselle walking down the hall. Cliff reached around Mirage and gave Fayt a slight push forward.

"It's go time!" he whispered as Fayt ran up to Lasselle.

"Principal Lasselle! Principal Lasselle!" Fayt cried, catching his attention.

"What is it, Fayt?" he asked with a nonchalant look on his face. The robot followed Fayt and was hidden behind his leg before it started climbing up Lasselle's coat.

"Um, I forgot," he replied, making both Cliff and Mirage slap themselves on their forehead, "Oh yeah, now I remember! What time is it?"

The robot climbed into Lasselle's coat pocket as he checked his watch for the time. Everyone looked on with bated breath as the robot came back out and pulled the wire out from the bottom seam of Lasselle's pocket and quickly ran back to Welch. Once the wire end was in Cliff's hands, Mirage signaled to Fayt.

"Sir? I'm going through some abandonment issues. Can I have a hug?" he asked with a serious face before he wrapped his arms around Lasselle and shook him around. Cliff and Mirage quickly pulled the wire, making the socks drag across the hallway and into Lasselle's pocket. Because of Fayt's distraction, he didn't feel the sharp tug as the piano wire disconnected from the rancid laundry.

"Mr. Leingod? I really think you should go see the councilor for problems like this," Lasselle wheezed once Fayt stopped moving him around. By the time the wire was rolled up and tucked away, the bell rang and the students filed out of the cafeteria. They all froze when they noticed their principal was being hugged by a blue haired boy. But that was ignored when they started to smell the sweat socks.

"Ew! What is that rank smell?" one of the students shouted in the back ground. Remembering his lines exactly, Fayt let go of him and acted sheepish.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't know you were loaded," he said as he backed away into the crowd. The whole student body then burst out laughing from what Fayt had said as Lasselle tried to figure out what just happened. Up in the balcony, the girls were desperately trying to stop giggling so they could catch their breath. Even Albel was laughing heavily at the show.

When the odor finally reached Lasselle's nose, he shouted, "Gracious! What is that stench?" before he reached into his pocket for his handkerchief. But instead of a handkerchief, he pulled out a dirty pair of socks.

"LASSELLE!" a voice boomed over the students. The crowd parted to allow Coach Adray through.

"I knew you took them! I have been looking for my lucky socks nonstop and here you are playing with them!" he exclaimed as he grabbed Lasselle in the face with his large hand and snatched his socks from him. During this time, Cliff and Mirage was bowing before the audience, earning many whistles, cheers, and applauds. They both stopped to pull Welch away from her hiding place and made her take a bow as well. After all she helped out with the operation. Fayt had long since left to inform Coach Adray about the socks and didn't bother coming back so he didn't receive his credit. It was probably for the best because he would be on the top of the suspect list when Lasselle started his investigation to find out who did this.

Seeing that the show was over, Nel touched Albel on the shoulder to inform him that they should leave. He still had a smirk on his face when she led him across the school and into a large room with wooden floors and beige mats everywhere. It was now time for one of Aquaria's best classes that focused solely on the art of sword fighting. The class was named 'Fencing', but the students seldom ever used foils. They used dull blades that army trainees used and had many varieties of weapons from the Crimson Blade, the Dragon Brigade, the Black Brigade, and the Storm Brigade. Thanks to the room's size, the area was split in half to allow the members from the martial art's dojo to train at the same time with the fencing class. Since Nel was the best in the class, she always had free time to watch Cliff and Mirage's many matches.

Tynave did her homework when it came to Albel. She gathered all of his stats from competitions in Airyglyph and paired him up with Nel to see the outcome between the two fighters since they were both undefeated champions. Their match lasted for the whole period, katana against daggers, until fatigue wore Nel down and she slipped near the very end. She was disappointed at her first lost and was afraid he was going to rub it in, but instead he helped her up off the ground. Albel was just as tired as she was and begrudgingly agreed with Tynave when she said that they were well matched in fighting ability.

The rest of the day went by fast, they had Farleen again for Calculus and Albel managed to break his pencil as her voice grated on his nerves during her lecture on angles. In Art, they only had to draw 3-D boxes for a test grade. There was nothing much to say about P.E., but as everyone was doing push-ups and other warm-ups under Clair's direction, Adray came up and placed his arm around her shoulders.

"Atta girl! You're doing well," he praised her. Ever since he got his lucky socks back, he had been parading around the gym with them on, but that was not the odor that reached Clair's nose.

"Dad? Did you shower this morning?"

"No, why?" His answer was her dropping her clip board and running to the nearest restroom as fast as she could with a tint of green in her face.

The final bell rang and everyone gathered in front of the school as Peppita and Roger crossed the street to join them.

"Nel!" Roger shouted happily when he saw her. Nel slowly moved closer to Albel in hopes that he could scare the twerp off.

"Hey, who's this looser?" he queried when Albel stood between them.

"Normally, I don't bring myself so low as to destroy little maggots, but if you have a death wish, then I'd he happy to help you along with that," Albel threatened.

"Death wish? Hah! I can take you on!" he exclaimed before running past him and hid behind Nel, "But I'm not so unsophisticated as to fight in front of the ladies. Why don't you go amuse yourself with shiny objects until then?"

"That's it! Come here worm!" he growled as he approached Nel.

"Wait! Don't-" she froze when she felt Roger's little hand slide up further from her knee cap and rested on her thigh, "…On second thought, let me help you!"

The brat chuckled as he whizzed past them and ran all the way to the bus before it left. Unfortunately, his escape plan was ruined when the bus driver closed the door on him and sped off. Roger found out too late that his tail was stuck in the door and was dragged alongside the bus until it left Aquios.

"Serves the fool right," he muttered before two cell phones went off. Nel answered hers while Albel checked his before answering.

"Hello?" Nel said as she turned away from the group, "Father? Where are you?"

"_…That's not important right now. You must have noticed by now that Albel is attending school here so…_"

"_…I need you two to stay together and bring her home with you when dinner's ready. Her parents will already be there by then_," Glou finished at Albel's end. He strained his hearing and was able to hear someone else in the background.

"_Did you get that, boy?_" Glou asked after receiving no response.

Albel only turned his phone off and snatched Nel's phone and muttered, "Tell my father he's a conniving ass," before he hung up on Nevelle.

"Hey! What was that for!" she complained when he tossed the device back to her.

"Our fathers were in the same room together. They set us up, fool," he responded, earning a dirty look from his choice of words. Nel's phone rang again but this time it was Glou on the other end.

"_But seriously_," he began as his laughter died down, "_Could you please baby-sit my boy till dinner? He needs a good caretaker to make sure he stays out of trouble and I don't want to rely on strangers._"

Nel sighed, she didn't mind really, but she didn't want to spend more time with Albel than necessary. Despite the crush she had on him, she would still get into an argument if he wanted to start one and it was only a matter of time before he decided to get under her skin and start a fight. Against her better judgment, she eventually replied, "Okay, Mr. Nox. I'll watch him."

"_Thank you, but you don't have to call me 'Mr. Nox', just call me 'dad'. We're all family here._"

Nel blinked as he abruptly hung up before she put away her cell phone. She then faced Albel and said, "Looks like you're coming to the café with us."

"That's okay," Maria reassured as she overheard the conversation, "The more the merrier."

Peppita was finishing up on her story on how her day went when suddenly, the affects of the energy drink wore off and Fayt passed out on the spot. Thankfully, there a nice small body nearby to cushion his fall. Maria. She blushed furiously when she found that his head was resting between her breasts and pushed him off of her.

"Maria! Are you okay?" Sophia asked frantically as she helped her to her feet.

"Hah! 3:40 on the dot! Pay up Mirage," Cliff said as he examined his watch, but when she groaned and searched her purse for the money he stopped her, "Oh, sorry. My watch is five minutes behind, which means you won the bet."

Maria mouthed 'His watch isn't behind, he's making it up' to Nel and Sophia as she nudged her head in their direction. A beat up, white minivan pulled up to the school driveway when Cliff gave Mirage the money and honked at them.

"Oh, my ride's here," Peppita said as she approached the vehicle, "Do you want me to ask Ursus if he can give you and Fayt a ride home, Sophia?"

Sophia glanced at Fayt's sleeping form before replying, "Yes, please!"

Peppita disappeared behind the van for a moment before poking her head around the corner, "He says it okay!"

"Thank you Peppita!" Sophia called as she placed Fayt's arm around her shoulder and tried to lift him, only to find that he was too heavy for her.

"I'll help you Sophia," Maria suggested as she draped Fayt's other arm around her shoulders and helped Sophia drag Fayt into the back seat of the minivan.

"I'm going with them, to make sure Fayt and Sophia gets home safely. Sorry I have to cancel our plans for today," she apologized as she climbed into the van behind Sophia.

"That's okay, be sure you are home before sunset or else we'll send the dogs after you!" Cliff taunted as Peppita slid the back door shut. Maria rolled down the window as the minivan started moving.

"Shut up, Cliff!"

He chuckled as the vehicle drove off before wrapping his arms around Mirage, Nel, and Albel, "Well it looks like it's just the four of us."

"Oh, goody," Albel muttered darkly with sarcasm dripping in his voice as he moved away from them. Before Cliff could make a retort, a growl emitted from the school's fountain and made him grow pale.

"P-Prissy! Gotta go!" he yelled as he ran as fast as he could from the attack poodle. Prissy was a tiny poodle with pink ribbons in her fluff and an expensive looking rhinestone collar around her neck.

"What is mom's dog doing here in Aquios?" Mirage whispered to herself before calling to Cliff's retreating form, "I'll get my driver to pick you up at the town square!"

"Thanks Mirage!"

She waved good bye to Albel and Nel before she whipped out her cell phone and chased after them. Did they do this on purpose? In less than ten minutes, the group dwindled from eight people to two.

"So…what now maggot?" She cast a weary glance in his direction.

"We are going to have a nice conversation about what you should call me," Nel replied calmly as she grabbed his arm and forced him to walk with her, "My name is Nel, not maggot, not fool, not even worm, it's _Nel_. Say it with me, _Nel_…"

* * *

Within the city square of Aquios was a two story café. On the second story patio were two grown men chuckling over something over a glass of iced tea. One of the men had short red hair and blue eyes, where as the other had long black hair and red eyes. Nevelle Zelpher and Glou Nox were once again conspiring as they used to in the old days. 

"You're right," Nevelle commented after a sip of tea, "That son of yours is really sharp."

"Yeah, that's why we need to be careful in our planning. He _loves_ to ruin good surprises," Glou remarked before they started laughing again.

* * *

When I wrote the prank scene, I stayed up until 5 in the morning laughing my head off. I'm starting a small schedule where I write a fanfic chapter and then write a novel chapter for Fictionpress so it will really slow down the updates. If you're ever in the area, look up my novels, I'm Sorceress Myst over there, too. I don't get enough feedback over there to tell if I'm doing a good job on them so I'll love you forever if you left a review! C ya next chapter! 


	4. The Start of a Long Day

I'm so glad everyone loved the prank scene! Thank you again for the reviews, they really keep me going. Today's chapter forecast will be partly angst/ mostly humorous with a small hint of romance.

And now by the power of Adray's almighty sweat socks, I present…

Chapter 4

"I did _what_!" Fayt shouted as the bus traveled through the Irisa Fields towards Aquios.

"In your hyper state, Mirage convinced you that you were the school's greatest actor so you would go hug Lasselle and say that he had gas when the socks were hidden in his pocket," Sophia repeated as Maria yawned.

"Ugh, I can't believe I don't remember any of it. I wonder if they put alcohol in that energy drink?"

"It sure sounds like they did," Roger commented as he waited for Cliff to jump in and explain, but he was too busy staring out the window.

"Who took me home?" Fayt asked with a slightly worried look.

"I did, with Maria's help of course, since I couldn't lift you all by myself," Sophia replied, earning a relieved sigh from him.

"Maria? From now on you can sleep on my shoulder and I promise to never wake you up until we need to get off the bus." Maria stared at Fayt questioningly as he pulled her against him. She was about to protest until she noticed that he was more comfortable than the bus seats and began to doze off. Fayt then turned to Sophia, "Sophia, I'm going to take you to the best restaurant in Peterny tonight."

Sophia looked skeptical, "What's with you all of a sudden?"

"If you and Maria hadn't taken me home, Apris knows what Cliff and Mirage would have done with me in my near comatose state." The least they would have done would have been to dress Fayt up in a pink frilly dress with make-up on his face and leave him in the middle of the Peterny before screaming to the public that he was dead.

"Oh, good point," Sophia responded before her gaze traveled to Cliff. He has been awfully silent today, he didn't even smile when she fell flat in her face after the bus driver suddenly slammed on his brakes as a police car passed them. He only stared out the window with a dazed smile on his face.

"Maria, what's wrong with Cliff?" Sophia whispered as she leaned against Fayt's chest so only Fayt and Maria could hear her.

Maria cracked one eye open before responding with, "I don't know, he's been acting this way ever since he came home last night. I'll read his diary tonight to see what's wrong."

"He keeps a diary!" Fayt snickered as Sophia sat up.

"Well, he claims it's a journal. Mom thought he was going to go insane once so she forced him to keep a diary to organize his thoughts. Mom doesn't read it, but she makes sure he writes in it and bribes him for it. He gets fifty Fol per entry."

"Wow, I wish I can get paid for writing how my day went," Peppita said in a pout.

Cliff didn't hear a word his friends said as he stared out the window. Something really big happened between him and Mirage last night and he wasn't sure if he could face her in class today.

_Flashback_

Just as planned, Cliff waited for Mirage's limo to pull up in the city square of Aquios. He was standing on the edge of the large fountain, out of Prissy's reach when Mirage came to the rescue.

"Okay Prissy, I don't know how you got here, but you're going home now," she scolded as she picked up the struggling poodle, "Its okay Cliff, you can come down. Prissy will be riding with the driver so you can ride in the back with me."

"Have you ever considered getting her teeth removed? I'm more afraid of her bite than her bark-" he started as he jumped down. Unfortunately, one leg had fallen asleep so he lost his balance and grabbed Mirage's shoulders for support. Their faces were an inch apart when he was steadied and before they knew it everything around them disappeared. It wasn't clear who had started the kiss, but they didn't care as Cliff moved his hands from her shoulders to her lower back and deepened the kiss. Prissy growled as she was getting crushed between their bodies. If Cliff wasn't so close, the poodle would have had enough room to turn her head and bite him.

"Erm, Miss Koas? I think I'll take milady's dog before you squeeze the air out of her," the driver muttered dryly, making them break apart in both shock and embarrassment. Without another word, Mirage pulled away and gave the poodle to the driver and walked to the limo with a shade of bright red on her face. Cliff had a similar blush on him as he climbed in after her. Neither dared to speak or look at each other throughout the whole ride to Peterny.

_End Flashback_

He didn't mean to kiss her, though he couldn't help but admit that it was nice. He wanted to at least tell her how he felt about her before going that far. He didn't know how she felt about him and vise versa. He may have just ruined his only strong friendship all because of one slip up.

Suddenly, Mirage's limo pulled up beside the bus and for once there were no posters. Cliff was the only one who noticed and looked down at the last window. She wasn't enthusiastically waving or making faces at anyone, instead her head was leaning against her window as two fingers rested on her lips as if remembering the kiss from yesterday. Slowly, her gaze shifted up to the bus and when her eyes contacted Cliff's, they both blushed and turned away. The limo sped off ahead before anyone noticed what happened.

* * *

_Dear Nel,_

_We are going with Glou and Karen Nox to the Shrine of Kaddan. We will return tomorrow around __noon__. Behave yourself because Albel will be staying the night with you._

_Love,_

_Mom and Dad_

_P.S. Since we are traveling in the Noxs' only limo, please tell the driver to pick up Albel for school._

Nel crumbled the note and tossed it into the small trashcan next to the miniature T.V. as the limo started up. The news on the letter was worse than the morning news on the television. Had both Glou and her father lost their memory? They knew better than to force Albel to stay in her company for more than five hours. He gets annoying enough after three hours.

She decided to watch the news instead of brood over the outcome of what's going to happen today. A fire in west Peterny, no one was injured. Some idiot was caught streaking in Arias and the description of the man looked suspiciously like Coach Adray. Fayt's parents accidentally discovered the cure for the common cold while pursuing their study on runological genetics. The police _still_ hadn't found the escapee from the Kirlsa asylum. Suddenly, the limo stopped, alerting Nel to mute the T.V. as Albel quietly climbed in.

"Zelpher," he greeted.

"Nox," she returned. So far so good. Albel glanced around with an odd look on his face as the driver closed the door.

_"Let me guess, he's going comment on my family's 'inadequate mode of transportation' and start yet another argument,"_ Nel thought irritably. She was surprised, however, when he leaned closer to her and whispered something she wasn't expecting.

"Our parents are up to something."

"What?"

"Our parents are plotting something!" he snapped, "I don't know about your parents, but my father isn't a religious man. I think they are lying to us."

"If that's true, then where did they really go?"

"How the hell should I know?"

She let out a sigh as she realized that she was getting no where with him, "Maybe you are just paranoid."

"Bah, believe what you wish," he muttered as he glared out the window. He did have a point, as much as she hated to admit it. It was odd for both of their parents to suddenly leave to go see a shrine that was all the way across a lake when they could've just visited the chapel in the palace. Maybe they were really going to that resort that just opened up near the border between Aquaria and Greeton and left those letters so she and Albel wouldn't complain about being left behind.

"Now that I think about it…there is that resort that just opened. They probably went there. In fact, that would explain all those brochures I've been seeing around the mansion."

"Possibly. My parents _would_ pull off something like that," he grumbled. The school was coming into view as Albel noticed another limo pulling into the drive, "Is that the worm you always talk with?"

Nel leaned over him to look out the same window, "Her name is Mirage."

"Whatever."

"Can't you come up with better names than worm, maggot, or fool?"

"Like what, _Nel_?" He mimicked the way she pronounced her name to him last night as an evil grin formed on his face. Nel felt the skin under her eye twitch from anger.

"Are you mocking me?"

"Why would I do something like that?" he asked with fake innocence, "Mimicking you would sound like a cat coughing up a hairball."

That made her snap, "One more word out of you Nox and I swear I'll…"

"You'll what?" he challenged, the grin turning into a smile. She let out a quiet growl and tried to suppress her anger. There was no point in starting a fight with him, if anything, she should try to save all the anger for 5th period and use it against him in their next match. She almost succeeded in calming down until Albel leaned forward and looked at her.

"What's the matter _Nel_? You haven't answered my question. Cat got your tongue or did you loose your nerve?" he said in a taunting tone before she finally lost her cool. She made a fist and aimed toward his face, but he dodged it at the last second by leaning back. He quickly grabbed her outstretched arm and pulled her until she was sprawled across his lap. Nel immediately tried to get up, but found herself pinned down to the seat. As quick as lightning, Albel had rolled on top of her and gripped her by her biceps while his legs kept her lower body from moving.

"What are you doing?" She continued to struggle against him until he began chuckling.

"You always said you wanted to become a knight just like your father and yet here you are, easily brought down by a few words. Pathetic," he scoffed, infuriating her even more.

"Just you wait! When it's time for Fencing class, I'll be sure to kick your a-"

"Oh please. _Who_ won the match yesterday?" he continued as he moved his head closer to hers. One of his long braids fell over his shoulder and the unbound blonde hair swept across skin that was exposed from her low cut shirt, making her realize exactly how close he was. Was it her imagination or did their noses brush against each other?

Suddenly, Albel got off of her and helped her sit up in the seat before the driver opened the door. Nel hadn't even realized the limo had stopped. She was grateful that it was over, she wasn't sure what he would've done if he noticed her blushing. Due to the small fight they had, she was now in Albel's original seat and was the first to get out. Why did he do that? Was it revenge for when she called him paranoid? Or did he do it just to get close to her? She shook her head furiously at the last thought. He doesn't like her the same way she does for him, it's hard to imagine him with a heart. But…the fact that he's having fun torturing her must mean he liked her a little. Only the people he respected, like his parents and Woltar, were on the receiving end of his twisted 'fun'.

"Hey, Mirage," she greeted when she approached the unusually quiet blonde.

"Oh, hi Nel. Hello Albel," she replied in a soft, depressed sounding voice. Albel didn't respond, but quirked an eyebrow at her as he wondered if Mirage really expected him to answer her. Nel placed her back pack on the stone wall lining the front stairway.

"Mirage? Are you okay? You seem down," Nel inquired worriedly before Mirage flashed an unconvincing small smile.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just …tired."

"Are you sure?-"

"Where's Maria!" A loud, annoying voice asked from behind.

Albel crossed his arms and leaned against a wall as he muttered, "I would suggest looking up your ass, maggot, but it seems you've already been there."

Nel turned to find Lieber staring at her intently, hoping that she could tell him where the woman he worshiped could be. Obviously, he didn't hear what Albel said or he just ignored it.

"Oh, gee, I don't know. Have you checked the library?" Mirage replied, knowing that if Lieber went into the library and started interrogating everyone with his loud voice, he would get a detention. A look of horror crossed his features.

"Oh-no! I haven't checked the library! Thanks Mirage!"

Once the nuisance was gone, Nel faced Mirage, "Did you and Cliff get into a fight or something? I haven't seen you act this way since your dojo master forced you to train with someone besides Cliff."

"Well, actually…" Mirage began. Nel perked up a little as she realized she got through to her and was about to find out what was wrong until yet another disturbance headed their way.

"NEL!" Roger screamed as he ran across the school yard towards them. This time, Albel pushed away from the wall and stood between him and Nel before letting out a trademark death glare. This made Roger screech to a halt as he realized there was nothing to hide behind to protect himself from Albel.

"Uh…Bye Nel!" he said as he ran away. He was almost hit by the bus driver as he frantically ran across the street to the Jr. High. Nel was torn from either thanking Albel, even though she knew he would brush it off and say that the 'maggot had it coming', or trying to pry Mirage's story out of her before the others arrive.

"Thank you, Albel," she eventually muttered after a small inner battle.

"Bah, the maggot had it coming…" He resumed leaning against the wall as the others arrived. Fayt was looking more energetic than he usually did in the mornings, but thankfully he didn't seem like he was under any sugar high. He was trailing closely behind Maria and Sophia as they approached. When Cliff arrived, both he and Mirage made sure not to make eye contact with each other.

There was a strange silence around since Cliff and Mirage refused to talk to each other. The others were beginning to get suspicious and were about to ask them what happened until Cliff decided that enough was enough.

"Mirage, we need to talk…alone," he said as he walked off. Mirage only nodded and followed him silently.

"Okay, this is getting weird, first Mirage is being quiet, then the school's self elected king and queen of pranks are not plotting anything, and now Cliff is being serious. Did I miss something?" Nel wondered as she faced Maria.

"Like I told Sophia earlier, I don't know much since I haven't had the chance to invade his privacy yet, but I think he's going to tell her," Maria replied while walking to the glass doors. She held the door open for everyone as they all headed inside.

"Tell her what?" Fayt asked before Sophia began to get starry eyed.

"Are you serious? I hope she doesn't turn him down. They would make such a cute couple!"

"What?" Fayt exclaimed. Since no one told him about Cliff's little secret, he was a little confused. Maria only shrugged.

"Since Cliff is pretty unpredictable, it'd be hard to say for sure. I suppose we should wait and see what happens when homeroom starts."

"Ah! Love is great! Right, Fayt?" Sophia sighed.

"Uh…" was all Fayt said as he tried to think of how to respond without getting her mad at him.

When it was apparent that he wasn't going to answer her, Sophia began to smirk and faced Nel, "You know who else would make a cute couple around here?"

Nel nearly froze as she realized what she was trying to say. Maria was also looking at her with a similar smirk. Nel wished they would knock the teasing off because she knew better than to have a crush on Albel. And yet…she still had a crush on him nonetheless. Out of habit, Nel shrugged her shoulders to readjust the straps on her book bag, but found that it was not on her back.

"Oh-no…I left my bag behind…" she said before Maria could answer Sophia's question.

"I'll go get it…" Albel immediately volunteered, gaining a suspicious glare from Nel and surprised looks from the others.

"Anything to escape this idle banter," he muttered in a bored tone as he turned around and headed back to the front of the building.

"Ooh, he sounded eager to get that for you," Maria commented, earning an eye roll from Nel.

"No, I think he was tired of listening to our gossip," she argued as she crossed her arms.

"Oh, _sure_. Just admit it, he likes you and you like him," Sophia taunted.

"I don't know…if he didn't volunteer, then I would have. I can't take much more of this conversation," Fayt mumbled as he continued ahead of them. That got him glares from Maria and Sophia, but they stopped talking anyway. That is until Sophia paused and tilted her head as if trying to think of something.

"What does 'idle banter' mean?" Sophia inquired while running to catch up with everyone.

"It means 'pointless chitchat'," Fayt responded.

"Oh……Hey! That was mean of him! Nel, you're dating a meanie!"

"I'M NOT DATING HIM!" she yelled as Maria snickered.

* * *

Cliff led Mirage to a secluded and quiet space near a garden. This was the place they always go to when they wanted peace and quiet to plan new pranks. Today, however, they would not be plotting anything. Today, he was going to finally tell Mirage and if she doesn't like him back, he was going to ask her to forget about it so they could start over and act like nothing happened. Though, it was easier said than done to forget everything that had happened last night. 

"Mirage, look about last night…" he began.

"It…was an accident, right? It was nothing more than an accident. We shouldn't let it affect us, it's not like we can go on not talking to each other for the rest of the year," she said calmly.

"Er…yeah, an accident. …That…was what I was about to say." He couldn't tell her now. She wanted to continue with their friendship.

"Yeah, it's kind of awkward to avoid each other. I don't want to loose that bond we have over something that doesn't mean a thing," she continued, her words cutting through him and stabbing him in the heart.

"Good, so it's agreed then, forget last night." He forced a smile as he hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder for a brief moment, "Well, homeroom will be starting in a few minutes, see you there."

He slowly walked away, leaving her there. He made sure to keep the cheerful look on his face until he was far enough away from her.

"What was I thinking? She wouldn't like me in that way, we're partners in crime and …nothing more," he muttered under his breath. It was going to be awhile, but everything would go back to normal in time, though he may keep his distance from her now.

Mirage slumped down to the ground once Cliff was out of sight. It hurt her to say all those things, but it was for the best. Cliff valued their friendship more than any pretty girl he had seen in school. She was nothing more than a friend to him and she knew he was going to make up some story to excuse what happened last night.

She unconsciously placed a hand on her shoulder where he touched her. She could still feel the warmth of his hand. There used to be a time she wished she was one of those girls he flirted with, one of those preps who wore revealing clothes and plastered on make-up. But then she realized that if she did, then he wouldn't like her for who she really was. True, she came from a rich family and was sometimes forced to wear a dress for occasions, but her true self was more of a tomboy with a love for trouble, pranks, and martial arts.

Suddenly, the warning bell rang, alerting her that she needed to get to class before the tardy bell. She really didn't want to see Cliff yet, but she promised to forget about that kiss and trying to avoid him would bring back the problems she tired to prevent.

* * *

It was hard not to notice the depressed expression on Cliff's face when he entered the class room. The girls glanced at each other with worried and confused faces as he sat in the desk next to Fayt instead of his usual seat next to Sophia and behind Mirage. It was no surprise that he would sit somewhere different since he and Mirage would usually switch around if a prank was involved, but the way Cliff looked was what distressed everyone. When Mirage came in, he faked a happy demeanor as she briefly glanced at Albel in her original seat next to Nel and then walked over to the empty desk in front of Cliff.

"Time for roll call," Clair announced from the front of the classroom, "Marietta."

"Here."

"Steeg."

"Here."

"Lieber." Silence, "Where's Lieber?"

Marietta looked up from her book and stared at the empty seat in front of her, "Oh, I think he's still getting chewed out by Principal Lasselle for disturbing the peace in the library."

"Oh, okay. Sophia."

"Here."

"Cliff."

"…Here…" it was a faint nearly inaudible sound. Clair paused and looked at Cliff for a moment before continuing.

"Mirage."

"Ici," she replied in a monotone voice.

"And what language is that?"

"French."

"Oh. Fayt."

"Here."

"Glad to see you're back to normal. Welch."

"Present!"

"Nel."

"Here."

"Maria."

"Here."

"Albel."

"…" Clair glanced up when she heard no response. Albel was slouching in his desk until Nel sharply elbowed him in the shoulder, eliciting a forced "Here."

"And the rest are out for their underclassmen exams, so that's everybody," she finished before the door opened and Lieber entered the class.

"Sorry I'm late Miss Clair, I was in the principal's office," he said sheepishly as he walked over to his seat, waving at Maria the entire way.

There was always something about homeroom that made everyone too tired to talk to each other and so every morning the class was always silent. Lasselle thought that was suspicious as he tried to eavesdrop by the door. Not a word passed through, not even a 'We sure showed Lasselle yesterday!'. He eventually got tired waiting for someone to speak and barged into the classroom.

"WATCH OUT EVERYONE HE MIGHT STILL BE LOADED!" Steeg screamed in the back, making the class erupt into a fit of laughter.

"What! Who said that?" Lasselle demanded as he searched the room for the owner of the voice. Cliff broke away from his depression long enough to pull out a blown up whoopee cushion from his back pack and discreetly stepped on it, letting out a long, loud farting noise that silenced the class for a brief moment.

Lieber, knowing that he was already in enough trouble as it is, decided to ask, "Jeez, sir, what did you eat this morning? A large been breakfast burrito?"

"Make that two weeks of after school detention," Lasselle replied as he narrowed his gaze at Lieber. The whoopee cushion still had a little air left in it and suddenly made a small squeaking sound like air escaping through a narrow space in a balloon as Lasselle leaned forward. That made the students laugh even harder.

"I'm pleased that you find this funny," he said sarcastically over the noise, "Mark my words, I will find out who was responsible for yesterday's fiasco."

Lasselle's cheeks reddened in anger when the laughing didn't die down, "Fayt Leingod, report to my office!"

Fayt stopped chuckling immediately, "What? Why? I didn't do anything!"

"I know you didn't, but I believe that one of your fellow classmates used you to distract me and I need your help to find who."

"But I don't wanna," he mumbled under his breath as he stood up to follow Lasselle out the room.

"Remember, keeps your lips sealed," Cliff warned.

"Or else you'll face three weeks of torture by us," Mirage threatened as he passed her.

"Please, what can Lasselle possibly do to get me to talk?"

"Good point," Cliff responded as Fayt finally left.

There was once again a moment of silence until Maria cleared her throat, "Alright, who here bets 25 Fol that Fayt squeals on them by the end of the day?"

"Ooh! I do!" Steeg answered energetically.

"I don't know…Fayt's not the type to betray his friends," Sophia said as she crossed her arms.

"I know," Maria replied as she smirked, "That's why I'm betting 50 that he doesn't tell."

"Oh, then I'm betting 30 Fol that he doesn't either."

"Okay so that's 25 Fol for Fayt ratting out Cliff and Mirage and 70 Fol for Fayt being loyal. Anyone else?"

"I'll bet another 25 that he sings like a canary," Marietta added as she lost interest in her book. Steeg got up and walked over to Lieber and grabbed his wallet.

"And whether Lieber likes it or not, he's also betting 25 Fol against Fayt."

"Hey! Give that back!" Lieber yelled as he tried to grab Steeg from his seat.

"So now the total is 75 Fol against Fayt's loyalty and 70 Fol for his loyalty," Maria announced, ignoring Mirage's glare and Cliff's dopey opened mouthed stare. She couldn't believe that Cliff was surprised that she'd do this. She has lived with him for 11 years and he knew very well that she'd pull off betting rings anytime she had the chance.

"I bet 100 Fol that Fayt doesn't say a word and yet Cliff and Mirage get in trouble anyway," Nel said, shocking everyone around her.

"Bold today, aren't we?" Maria commented as she wrote the new bet down in her notebook, "We now have a three-way bet with 100 Fol for Fayt being silent and Cliff and Mirage getting screwed anyway."

"Gambling _Nel_? Wait till I tell 'daddy'," Albel teased from his seat next to her. Nel paused before she slowly faced him.

"Are you mocking me again?"

"Yeah, but I didn't feel like coughing up a hairball to make it sound like you."

"YOU LITTLE-!" She screamed as she was about to lunge at him, only to be held back by Maria.

"Nel calm down! Killing him won't solve anything!" Sophia cried as she helped Maria hold Nel back. Nel was on her last nerve with Albel and the fact that he was laughing at her didn't help her in the least.

"Put me down for 100 Fol as well, worm," he replied eventually, stunning Nel enough to make her stop her attempt to commit homicide. What was he trying to pull off? First he was trying to drive her insane and now he's contributing to the bet?

"For the third bet?" Maria clarified, a little miffed at him for calling her a worm, "That's brings it to 200 Fol."

"Add 50 to that!" a voice called from the back of the classroom.

"_Welch?_" Cliff and Mirage yelled in shock as the young inventor put her hand down.

"You traitor," Cliff accused before Welch shrugged sheepishly.

"Sorry, but when Lasselle can't find out who did it, he just automatically blames you two …since it usually _is_ your doing."

"That's true…" Mirage agreed with a look of displeasure on her face.

"Miss Clair, everyone is doing illegal gambling. Aren't you going to say something?" Cliff asked desperately to the suddenly silent grey haired teacher's aide.

Clair hadn't said a word when Maria started taking bets, but there was a small smile on her face indicating that she was finding this amusing. She blinked once before she cleared her throat, "Yes, this is getting to be a serious matter. …I'm betting 50 Fol on the third bet."

"Miss Clair, you rock!" Steeg cheered as he dodged Lieber's second attempt to get his wallet back.

"300 Fol!" Maria exclaimed as she finished up that tallying, "This is going to be good."

Suddenly, the bell rang, telling Maria that she needed to run to her next class before Cliff and/or Mirage try to capture her and come up with a way to punish her in the most horrible and embarrassing way possible. She quickly stuffed her notebook in her book bag and ran out the door before anyone else could stand up. Lieber immediately forgot about his wallet and chased after her while yelling, "Maria! Don't leave me behind!"

"Should we go after her?" Mirage wondered as she quickly stood up.

"Nah," Cliff mumbled tiredly as he slowly made his way out the door, "Don't worry about it, I know where she lives."

Sophia waited until Cliff and Mirage were out of the room and out of hearing range before she jumped between Nel and Albel to prevent anymore violence as they walked to their first period class.

"Cliff seemed pretty down. Do you think Mirage rejected him?" Sophia inquired to Nel, receiving a groan from Albel as he realized they were talking about pointless things again.

"I'm not even sure if Cliff tried to tell her. She's acting as if nothing was wrong."

"Yeah, but Mirage is good at hiding her feelings," Sophia paused before she giggled, "…Well, I'm going on ahead to tell Maria that she is safe for now. Don't kill each other on your way to class."

She ran off, leaving Nel alone with Albel yet again. Speaking of the beast, he seemed like he was back to normal. He was glaring at random things and was staying silent. She was about to sigh in relief until his wine colored eyes turned to her.

"What?" he snapped.

"Nothing," she replied quickly, embarrassed that she was caught staring at him.

"Figures," he muttered. Embarrassment turned into curiosity as she raised an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he grinned. He was doing it again. He was trying to annoy her to the point of blind anger. Thankfully, they reached Count Noppen's room before he could continue his torture. Nel once again tried to suppress her fury and hoped that Albel would get bored with her soon and start threatening the teachers. But the look in his eyes told her that this was going to be a long day.

* * *

I was hoping to write a bit more on this chapter, but then I found that if I wrote a 'bit more' then I'd keep writing to the point where nothing gets posted so I'm going to cut it off there and take a small break. I've been hearing that there are some Alnel doujinshi called Red Moon and Domination out there. Does anyone know where I can find them? I really want to read them. Well, C ya next chapter! 


	5. Broken Sanity

Yes, it's true! I wrote a new Alnel lemon fic and it's not AU! But since this site doesn't like NC-17s (and I don't want to push my luck) I put it on Media Miner. The URL can be found in my author profile. As for the new chapter, I couldn't help but write another long one, there's just so much to write about! Quick disclaimer: I don't own SO3 or any of its characters.

Chapter 5

"And that is the theme we are studying for the next three weeks," Count Noppen paused as he looked at his class. Albel was still glaring at him. The literature teacher shuddered slightly before continuing, "Now get out your copy of _Brave New World_ and begin reading. I expect you to finish the novel in two weeks."

All of the students groaned as they dug through their book bags for the novel and did as they were told. Well, all except for Albel. He was still glaring at the teacher. Noppen noticed this and realized that he didn't have a copy for Albel.

"L-lord Albel, since we are out of copies, you will h-have to share with Lady Nel." He continued glaring. The count soon started sweating under Albel's harsh gaze. Noppen faced his desk and found some salvation. He was out of coffee! He needed to get some more, which meant that he had to leave and Albel would stop glaring at him.

"Continue reading class, I am going out to get more coffee," he announced as he quickly left the room, forgetting to take his coffee mug with him.

Sophia, Maria, and a handful of other students put down their books and talked quietly amongst themselves. Albel turned his gaze to Nel and watched her read for a few seconds before he reached out and snatched her book. Nel only stared at her suddenly empty hands before she slowly looked up and faced Albel with an annoyed look on her face. He ignored her and skimmed through the chapters, leaving her to let out a sigh.

"You're not welcome," she muttered dryly. He only grunted in response and acted like he was actually interested in the novel. With her book gone, Nel had no choice but to face Maria and Sophia and join in their conversation.

"And when you think about it, Mirage only talks to Cliff. I mean she spends more time with him than she does with us. That's got to mean something," Sophia finished as Maria nodded in agreement.

"I still don't get why she would reject him. She never talks about any boys except for Cliff and the boyfriends she tries to get rid of," Maria added.

"How do you know she's not a lesbian?" Albel wondered out loud as he turned another page. All three girls stared at him. He glanced up when he noticed the sudden quiet only to be hit in the head with Nel's pencil.

"What was that for?" he growled at Nel in a menacing voice that frightened Sophia.

"She is not a lesbian! Keep your comments to yourself," she scolded, a little pleased that she got some revenge on him.

"What? You kept saying how the worm was not interested in men so its common sense to believe that she might prefer women instead," he argued before he turned back to the novel.

"She doesn't show interest in women either, she too focused on Cliff," Maria returned, even though Albel wasn't paying attention anymore.

"Then that means that there is no way she could have turned him down," Sophia concluded, "So then maybe Cliff didn't tell her how he felt about her."

"But what could he possibly want to say to Mirage that couldn't be discussed in front of everyone else?"

"I think they had an argument or something. I was talking to her this morning and she was about to tell me why she was so depressed, but Roger interrupted," Nel explained as she leaned forward on her desk.

"I knew I should have asked Peppita to hold him down earlier," Sophia grumbled.

"Wait, Mirage was depressed this morning?" Maria wondered with interest.

"Yeah, she kept saying she was just tired, but I almost got her to talk after I asked if she had a fight with Cliff."

"Really? What happened after Sophia and I left yesterday?"

"Well Cliff was-"

"Chased by a minute fluff ball and ran screaming like a sissy boy," Albel interrupted, earning a glare from Nel. He didn't even look up from the book as Maria and Sophia began laughing.

"Poor Cliff, I swear that poodle has it out for him!" Sophia said between breaths. Maria wiped a tear from her eye as she calmed down.

"Well, as much as I enjoy the thought of Cliff being afraid of such a small dog, that doesn't explain what happened between him and Mirage."

"That's all I know," Nel shrugged. Suddenly the bell rang and all the students filed out until Albel and Nel were the only ones left.

"You know," she began when she noticed that he was about to put her copy of the novel into his back pack, "That book is my personal copy. I hope you are going to return it."

"I don't see your name on it," he taunted as he held the book up.

"It's on the back cover."

"'Property of Nel Zelpher'," he read out loud before he placed the book into his bag and started walking out, "All the more reason to burn it."

"Hey!"

* * *

"So you see sir, I have no recollection of yesterday. I've only been told by my friends what happened and all I can say is that I am sorry for what happened," Fayt finished as Lasselle paced around him. 

"I see, but how do I know that you are not faking amnesia to protect your friends?"

"I'm not too sure if the friends I'm supposedly protecting are the ones responsible," Fayt protested as the principal brought his face close to his to see if Fayt was telling the truth, "Your breath stinks, sir."

Lasselle slowly pulled away in embarrassment before he walked over to his desk and retrieved a mint from one of the many drawers.

"Mr. Leingod, I need you to try harder to remember. This is a very serious matter," he said after popping the mint into his mouth and pulled out another mint, "Would you like a mint?"

"Are you saying my breath stinks, sir?"

"No, I'm just- …Look. I need your full cooperation Mr. Leingod. Do you even realize how many students could have been injured yesterday?"

"Well, gas is no laughing matter, so I suppose-"

"_That's_ not what I meant. Putting someone's unsanitary unmentionables in another's pocket can put someone's eye out!"

"I really don't see how that could put someone's eye out…" Fayt accused with a raised eyebrow.

"Nowadays, anything can put your eye out, pencil breaking, food fights, mooning, flipping the birdie…" he listed.

"How does moon- no how does _flipping the birdie_ put someone's eye out?"

"It doesn't hurt people, but it hurts the poor birds! I honestly don't understand why you young people toss our feathered friends around, but I really wish you'd see the bird's point of view."

Fayt could have fallen out of the chair laughing at this point, but instead chose to keep a stoic face. He blinked once before replying in a monotone voice, "You have made me see the light, sir. I'll be sure to tell my friends to leave the unfortunate birds alone."

"I'm glad I've gotten something through to you."

"Eh…me too, sir. …Now what were we talking about?"

After what seemed like days of dancing around Lasselle's questions, Fayt found himself sitting on a bench outside of his office. A lot of time has passed since he was first called in so he didn't know what period it was. He roughly guessed it was 3rd or 4th period as he glanced down the silent, empty hallways. Until it was lunchtime, he had nothing to do. He wished he brought a handheld game with him to pass the time. Out of boredom, he placed his head in his hands and tried to go to sleep.

"Hey Fayt, what's wrong?" He quickly looked up and found Maria staring down at him.

"Oh, hey. I'm just sitting here bored out of my mind. Lasselle told me to sit here and try to remember what happened yesterday until lunch."

"That's harsh…so I'm assuming you didn't rat out the guilty party, huh?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

"Nah. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't give out the details or the correct evidence when I don't even remember where it all took place."

"I see. Well, as long as Bonnie and Clyde don't get into trouble, then Sophia and I win the bet," she replied as she glanced up at the ceiling. Fayt shook his head and smiled a little.

"Another betting ring?" She faced him again and grinned back at him.

"What did you expect? As long as I am not allowed to get a part time job, I have to make a living somehow."

"I'll try to keep them out of trouble then. I'd do anything for you and Sophia," he answered as he leaned back on the bench, "So what are you doing out of class, Maria?"

"It's 4th period, I'm an office aide remember?"

"Oh, sorry, I've been in there for so long that I've lost track of the time," Fayt explained before Maria checked her watch.

"Aw, poor baby. …Listen, I need to go check in with the secretary, but I'll come back to talk with you since you look so sad and lonely sitting there," she said as she got up and started walking down the hall.

"Would you please? I'm so bored that I'll even talk about Cliff's relationship problems," he called, earning a chuckle from her in return.

"Sure thing."

"Thanks, I appreciate it!"

* * *

Nel glanced back and forth across the classroom. Lady Elena said that they were doing a project today, and that they should pair up. Surprisingly not a single person approached Nel. Usually everyone would be fighting over her because she was the only one who paid close attention to Elena's lectures to know what's going on. It seemed like everyone was staring at her with frightened eyes. No, not at her, it looked like they were staring at… Oh …they were staring at Albel… 

She forgot he was there. So that's why she didn't have a lab partner yet, they were too afraid to ask with him sitting there next to her. Now that Albel was here, there were no longer an odd number of students in the class, so a group of three was not allowed. She was about to get up and quickly find a partner before she got stuck with him, only to find that it was too late.

_"Oh Apris…"_ She cringed before she let out a long sigh and faced him.

"Want to be my lab partner?" she muttered in defeat. Albel was acting like he was taking a nap to prove his point that he was bored until he heard her voice and slightly cracked an eye open.

"Do you really have to ask?" She glanced at the students who, by the way, were doing a good job keeping a ten foot distance away from them.

"Good point."

The students waited patiently for Lady Elena to come back out with their projects, but were stunned to hear her mutter, "Oh, darn!"

"What's wrong?" Nel wondered when she came out of the storage closet.

"It seems that the shipment of fruit flies hasn't come in," Elena explained as she searched her messy desk for the order form, "I could have sworn that it was supposed to be delivered yesterday."

Nel stood up to help her sift through the mountains of paper that cluttered the desk until she came across a memo, "Is this it, Lady Elena?"

"Yes, this is it," she said before her face fell, "No…this isn't it, this is a notice telling me that the shipment was delayed."

"So what does that mean for us?" a student asked in the background.

"I guess that means I'll have to bring out some notes for you to copy down," she answered, earning a bunch of groans, "…Or, we can watch a documentary on the dung beetle."

"MOVIE!" the students shouted as they ran to get a front row seat in front of the television. Nel shook her head before she made her way back to her seat.

"I'm impressed, you're a secretary _and_ a teacher's pet," Albel teased. She decided not to dignify that with an answer because he would find a way to turn it around into another insult. Instead, she pushed him over in his seat, making him struggle for balance before the chair fell over. He almost succeeded in regaining balance until the back leg of the chair gave away and dropped him unto the hard tile floors with a very loud crash.

"What happened? Are you two alright?" Elena inquired worriedly as she froze in place with her finger on the play button of the DVD player. Nel's satisfied smirk vanished into a look of fake panic before she stood up and dramatically placed her hands on her cheeks.

"Oh, Apris! Albel, are you alright?" she then tuned to Lady Elena, "He was just sitting there minding his own business when one of the legs on his chair broke."

"I'm so sorry, the freshmen seem to think that bending the chair legs is a game. They're always breaking everything in sight…" she grumbled angrily before she pressed the play button and walked over to the classroom phone to report the damage. The students quickly started paying attention to the screen, not one of them dared to snicker at Albel in fear of what he might do to them. Nel glanced back down to where he had fallen only to find him gone. She backed away towards her seat when suddenly an arm grabbed her around her waist and forced her to sit down in a lap. She was about to let out a scream, but a hand was clamped over her mouth.

"That wasn't very nice, Nel," a dark voice whispered in her ear. All the students were pretending to watch the documentary while Lady Elena talked on the phone. They were also sitting in the very back of the classroom, leaving her without any help from this predicament. She wasn't too worried about Albel extracting his revenge on her since she knew he wouldn't kill her, let alone harm her, but the fact that she was sitting in his lap and was at his mercy was probably the most humiliating moment in her life right now.

"Do you have anything to say in your defense?" he asked before she started squirming in his grasp. She wanted to say something, but he wouldn't remove his hand, so anything she could have said wouldn't have made sense.

"I didn't think so." He then moved both his hands to her lower back and gave her a sharp push forward. She landed flat on her stomach on the cold ground with an inaudible thud before she heard Albel mutter, "Oops."

Oops? Nel suddenly felt a draft as she remembered that she was wearing a short pleated skirt today. She cautiously pushed herself up and glanced behind her to find, much to her horror, that her skirt hiked up, allowing Albel to have a nice view of her underwear. What was even worse was the fact that she was wearing a thong. Did she say sitting in his lap was embarrassing? This was far worse. She immediately squeaked and yanked the hem of her skirt down before standing up with a really red face. He only stared at her with wide eyes before a faint blush appeared on his cheeks as he quietly cleared his throat and faced another way.

"Uh, sorry about that…" Did he just apologize? To _her_? True, she deserved an apology, but the only time Albel would ever give one was if he was detained against his will and tortured …or if Woltar had him in a head lock. Deciding that there was no point on dwelling on it, she started looking around for another chair to sit in since he stolen hers. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a lack of chairs due to the fact that the freshmen really were bending the chair legs like it was a sport, which meant that the only available seat that was left was …Albel's lap. After what just happened, she seriously doubted that he was willing to let her sit near him and it would be near impossible to kick him out of the chair. The bell rang, to her relief, before she could decide on what to do.

* * *

Fayt forgot all about his boredom when Maria came back. Time flew quickly and it was lunchtime before they knew it. They walked to the cafeteria side by side, still talking about what ever came to their minds. Maria couldn't explain why, but she felt strangely happy talking with Fayt. It was not like she hadn't talked to him before, but this was the first time she was ever alone with him. All of a sudden, Maria began to notice small things about Fayt like how he'd tilt his head playfully when teasing people or how cute he looked when he grinned. 

"Fayt! You're alive!" Sophia shouted dramatically as she ran up to him and gave him a big hug. Since she just came out of Theater Arts, she was currently in 'Acting Mode' as Maria liked to call it. Fayt returned the hug eagerly before Maria felt a little jealous of Sophia. Wait, jealous? Why would she be jealous? She didn't have a crush on Fayt, or did she?

Maria pushed that thought away to the back of her mind as she followed the two to the lunch line. What a time to be falling for Fayt. He's already taken. Fayt and Sophia were childhood friends and have been inseparable for years. It was obvious that they liked each other, though they never told anyone that they were going out. Maria couldn't bring herself to be angry or upset with Sophia because none of this was her fault, she just happened to be there first in Fayt's life. It was probably just a small crush, it will pass. It most likely resulted from the involvement she had with Cliff's feelings for Mirage and she maybe wanted someone to feel the same way for her. Well, someone normal. Lieber didn't count.

"So did you find anything new about Cliff and Mirage?" Sophia asked suddenly, pulling Maria out of her thoughts. She shook her head before answering. Ever since last period with Fayt, the problems between her brother and his partner in crime seemed so long ago.

"No, nothing new. It just looks like everything is back to normal."

"Yeah, but I can see that they are not as close as they were before. It looks like Cliff is purposely keeping a small distance away from her." Maria blinked at what Sophia said. It was Maria who usually knew things about Cliff before anyone else.

"You know, you are really scary when it comes to other people's relationships," Maria commented before she watched the mentioned blondes walk out of the lunch line to their table, "But, you are right. It's almost like someone pressed the 'reset' button and they started over from the beginning."

"Maria! You're scaring me! You're talking like Fayt," Sophia whined before Fayt faced her and glared.

"Hey! What's wrong with comparing life to a video game?" Maria giggled as the two started a fake argument over video games and real life. Perhaps spending a period with Fayt was spending too much time with him if it suddenly made her talk like him.

The line was really short today, and everyone could see why as the cafeteria ladies dumped an odd gray substance onto their trays. Besides the fact that they now had a slightly furry blob for lunch, everything seemed normal until they arrived at the table.

"Shut _up_!" Nel moaned before burying her face in her hands. Albel smirked evilly while Mirage put a tally mark on one side of her napkin with a sharpie.

"What's going on?" Maria asked cautiously as she sat down in her usual post beside Nel.

"He's pointing out all the humiliating moments in my life!" she replied as she glared at the crimson eyed monster.

"And then there was that time you and my father went to the lake and-"

"I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear it!" Nel said frantically. Mirage put down another tally mark before Nel suddenly grinned.

"But now that you mention it, who was it that the huge fish fell on top of?" Now Mirage marked on the other side of the napkin.

"Point taken, but how many people confuse spaghetti with worms?" he returned, making Nel blush once again.

"You are so immature!"

"_I'm_ the immature one? Then tell me who-"

"Shut_ **up**,_ maggot!" she snarled before she realized what she said. Everyone stared at her wide eyed before she clamped her hands to her mouth for a second.

"Oh-no, I'm talking like him… Maria, get the doctor!" she squeaked as Albel slowly blinked.

"Name calling? That's very mature of you, Nel," he taunted.

"Oh, that's the pot calling the kettle black!" she yelled as she slammed her fists on the table. Cliff had his head buried in his arms when his face started turning blue from trying to hold in his laughter while Mirage counted all the tallies so far.

"So…what brought this on?" Fayt eventually asked after Nel huffed and faced away from Albel.

"From what I understand," Mirage began, "Something embarrassing happened to Nel last period and Albel was attempting to 'cheer her up'."

"What happened last period, Nel?" Maria wondered. Both Nel and Albel blushed slightly, but Albel covered it up as he stole Nel's milk carton and started drinking from it.

"…I'd rather not talk about it," Nel answered.

"But-!" Sophia whined, causing Albel to nearly choke on the milk. He quickly wiped his mouth and glared at her.

"It's none of your business, fool."

Once Cliff calmed down, he looked up and grinned at the information, "It must have been pretty bad if they're _both_ being defensive."

"Shut up, maggot…" Albel muttered, earning a snicker from Cliff.

"So who's winning?" Cliff inquired as he faced Mirage.

"Albel's winning by two comebacks," she replied as she held up the napkin.

"Okay, what is this stuff?" Fayt wondered as he poked the gray blob before Nel could react to the score. Sophia was looking at her 'lunch' with a disgusted face before she pushed her tray away. Maria only cast a weary glance at hers before she picked her tray up and gave it to Cliff.

"Hey, I don't want it!" he complained as a student barged into the cafeteria with a panicked look on his face.

"Don't eat your lunch everyone! It's Lady Elena's shipment of fruit flies! It came in today and was sent to the cafeteria by mistake!" he informed. All the students began gagging or shouting "EWWW!".

"GROSS! Lieber, you just ate fruit flies!" Steeg yelled from the other side of the cafeteria before he started chuckling.

"YOU DARED ME TO EAT IT!" Lieber argued as he stood up.

"You didn't have to do it. It was just a dare, there wasn't even money involved," Marietta said with a tint of green on her face.

"Ah, nothing like good ol' Aquios High cuisine," Cliff joked as he picked up Maria's tray and threw its contents into the trash, "Nothing's more fun than switching the labels on school mail, eh Mirage?"

"Right you are, Cliff," she smirked as she passed out pudding packs and small bags of chips she pilfered from the cafeteria's package to Fayt and the others.

"There goes our lab project…" Nel muttered while slowly shaking her head.

The bell soon rang allowing the now nauseated students to leave the cafeteria. Nel quickly ran to the restrooms so she wouldn't have to suffer another barrage of insults from Albel. She took her time to wash her hands and then brushed her hair before finally deciding to leave. Tynave never punished anyone who arrived to class late because she never had time to stay after school for detentions so she didn't worry when the tardy bell rang. Nel tried to hold back her anger when she found Albel waiting for her outside the restrooms.

"Why aren't you in class?"

"I didn't want to get stuck with a weakling to spar with," he responded as he walked beside her to class.

"Are you saying that you only want to fight with me?" she inquired as she glanced at him with a shocked expression.

"You're the only one in this maggot riddled school who is at my level," he said while making sure to not look at her. He actually complimented her and she wasn't sure if she should be scared or suspicious.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you're a pretty good fighter for a girly, skirt wearing, hot-headed fool." …So much for the compliment.

"Why must you always be so mean to me?" she whined before he acted like he was upset.

"I'm mean to you? How could you say that _Nel_?" Albel stopped in front of the classroom door as she faced him with a nasty glare.

"Would you drop that already? It's getting old."

"…Don't get your black thong in a twist," he grumbled as he looked away. That made her snap. Before she knew it, Nel found herself tackling him against the door. Unfortunately for them, the door was slightly open so they tumbled into the classroom and landed right in the middle of Cliff and Mirage's match. The two froze in place as they watched Albel and Nel wrestle each other in a fight for dominance.

Knowing that they weren't going to hurt each other, Cliff glanced at Mirage, "Since they are fighting for us, let's go play with their swords."

"Okay," Mirage nodded as she followed him to the other side of the classroom. It wasn't long before Tynave and the Dojo master noticed the commotion.

"Hey, you two! What are you doing with weapons when you are supposed to be training?" the Dojo master yelled at Cliff and Mirage as he pulled Albel off of Nel. Tynave soon grabbed Nel before she could get up and try to attack again.

"Sorry, sensei," they said in unison as they dropped the swords and headed back to their side.

"Well, it seems that you guys are having a little disagreement," Tynave said as she dragged her students over to their discarded weapons, "This can be settled in one match. The first one to knock their opponent's sword out of their hands wins."

"I don't know what you did to make her this angry, but now would be a good time to apologize," Cliff warned Albel as he picked up his katana. Albel sighed after Nel grabbed her daggers and went into a fighting stance.

"The maggot's right, I'm sorry Nel." He looked sincere when he said it. But when Nel lowered her blades slightly, he obtained an evil smirk before saying, "I'm sorry for telling the truth."

In an instant, Nel let out a battle cry as she charged. Cliff only shrugged before joining Mirage in cheering Nel on until their sensei scolded them for not training. Nel's attacks were far more aggressive as she focused on wiping that grin off of Albel's face rather than technique. She didn't notice the look of pure joy in his eyes as he gracefully dodged each of her hits and stuck back with an equal amount of force. The amount of fury Nel contained managed to get her to end the fight quickly by dropping down and knocked him down with a sweeping kick. His katana fell out of his hand when he landed, but she wasn't finished with him yet. She pounced on top of him and crossed her daggers over his throat before he could get up. Although the blades were too dull to cut skin, they could go through the mats if one put enough force in it.

Now that he was pinned down, she raised a fist and prepared to beat his face in, but he grabbed her wrist before she could swing. She raised her other fist only to have it captured by his free hand. Albel spread her arms far apart from each other and realized too late that she was going to loose her balance and have her head crash against his. Fortunately, Mirage, after beating Cliff once again this week, caught Nel, just as her lips were a mere inch away from his, and pulled her up.

"Nel, you won. You can stop now," Mirage said as Albel removed the daggers and ignored Cliff's offer for help. Nel let out a gasp before she broke away and ran to the restrooms. Worried, Mirage was about to trail after her until Cliff stopped her.

"Hang on. I have a hunch that things are not as they seem," he whispered to her. He waited for Albel to stand up before he asked, "Was the fight challenging enough for you?"

Albel didn't answer right away, but instead he lowered his head so his bangs covered his eyes as a slow, wicked grin appeared on his face, "…It was…" he then let out an evil laugh that made all of the students except for Mirage and Cliff shrink back in fear.

"I should piss her off more often…" he muttered darkly as he made his way back to the weapon case to put up his and Nel's blades.

"There's your answer, he's been picking on her just for a thrilling fight." Cliff nodded to Mirage, signaling her to go tell Nel.

Albel watched as the blonde girl ran out to most likely reveal what he just said to Nel. He knew sooner or later that either Nel was going to become immune to his taunting or that he would become strong enough to beat her in her frenzied form, but until then, he was going to have a good workout fighting her like that. Not even sparring with his father got him this excited. His adrenaline was rushing, his heart was beating wildly, he actually had to use all of his strength to keep one step ahead of her. It was worth all the nagging he was going to receive from her later.

* * *

It was all downhill after 5th period as Albel returned to his quiet self and only spoke when insulting either a teacher or any student or friend who talked to Nel. Nel felt a little better after Mirage told her about Albel's 'strategy' for a good fight, but she couldn't help but feel like she was used. The day went by fast like yesterday and she soon found herself lying facedown on her bed in the quiet of her room. 

"Lady Nel? There is a phone call for you. It's Miss Koas," a servant said behind her door. Nel rolled over.

"Mirage?" she wondered curiously before she pressed the speaker button on her phone, "Hello?"

_"Hey, Nel."_

"It's not like you to call. Is there something wrong?"

_"No …well, actually yes. I need some …advice."_ Nel nearly fell off her bed when she heard Mirage's reply. Mirage was an independent person who could solve her own tribulations. If she really needed to ask for help, then that must mean it was big.

"Advice? Not that I'm not flattered that you decided to talk to me, but shouldn't you ask Maria? She's the one who usually helps everyone with problems." Maria was the leader, she had all the answers.

_"I thought of that, but then I remembered that they recently got caller ID and if Cliff found out I was on the phone, then he would try to listen in."_ Now it made sense, it was Cliff. She needed advice on him.

"Oh, I see. So what-" Nel cut off when she heard someone banging on her wall next door.

"Will you keep it down? I'm trying to watch T.V.!" Albel's voice shouted from next door, reminding her that he was staying the night.

"Be quiet, Albel! You can watch T.V. in the parlor!" she argued before she turned back to the phone. She could almost imagine the surprised look on Mirage's face now.

_"…Albel? What is he doing at your house?"_

"Oh, our parents have gone off to a resort and he has to stay the night here. He's not allowed to be home alone because he has a tendency to attack the servants when he's bored," she answered quickly so Mirage wouldn't get any ideas.

_"Oh…If he's there, then maybe I should call some other time…"_

"Don't worry about it," Nel reassured before Mirage could hang up, "He could care less about other people and their problems, especially when they don't involve him."

She heard a loud thunk, indicating that he threw something at the wall. It was either in response to the fact that she was talking about him or he was still trying to get her to be quiet.

_"Okay then, I'll start from the beginning…"_ Mirage proceeded to tell her everything from the time she saved Cliff from Prissy to the chat they had in the morning. Although she had been Nel's friend for around five years, Nel never knew much about her and now she is the first one in the group to officially know that Mirage has a crush on Cliff.

"And you told him that it was an accident? Mirage, a kiss _that_ long is no accident," she scolded. Albel had long since given up banging on the wall during the conversation and changed the channel on his T.V. to a loud music station. He then tuned the volume up really loud to drown them out. Nel was almost worried that he was going to go deaf.

_"I know, but he doesn't like me in that way."_

"If the kiss lasted for one second, then maybe I'd agree with you, but… He was really sad in homeroom before you came in, and after hearing what you told him, I can see why."

_"He was?"_

"Yeah. I think he likes you too. Maybe you should talk to him one more time and just flat out tell him how you feel," Nel suggested as she sat up in her bed.

_"I don't know if I could do that. Remember, I could loose him as my best friend if he knew how I felt."_

"Even if he doesn't like you that way, you could still be friends. I noticed how well you two were able to forget about that kiss today. Except for this morning, it didn't seem like anything was different…minus the fatuous bully currently residing next to my room," she muttered the last part even though she knew Albel couldn't hear her anymore.

_"…I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to him again…"_ there was a slight pause, _"Nel, are you feeling okay?"_

"Huh? Yeah, why do you ask?" she wondered as her eyes narrowed in confusion.

_"When I found you after your match…you were crying. Why?"_

Nel paused before she cautiously moved closer to the microphone on the phone to speak softly in case Albel should suddenly mute his T.V., "A lot of emotions have been building up lately and I needed to let it out. Albel's so frustrating! He has no end to his comebacks or insults, he can tactfully use people, mostly me, like pawns to get what he wants, and he has a long list of childhood stories about me that he could use as serious blackmail. I should despise him but instead I…I."

_"What?"_ Mirage seemed greatly interested.

"I love him…" she responded in a whisper.

_"Ah, so you _do _have a cru- wait, **love**__him? Isn't that a bit too far?"_

"Maybe," Nel smiled faintly, "He doesn't do or say anything nice to me. He makes it obvious that he doesn't like me. Except for his good looks, there is nothing about him I should even be _attracted_ to. I have no clue why I want to continue to be with him even after several attempts of trying to stay away from him. If it's not love then it must be insanity."

"_Wow… I'm impressed that you trusted me enough to tell **me** this."_

"Since you just told me your little secret, I figured that I'd be safe telling you mine because I could just let out a little leak of tonight's conversation to Cliff if I hear you letting out my secret to a certain couple crazy girl and a blue haired singer turned gambler," Nel threatened as she allowed her voice to get a little louder.

_"Darn it! I thought you were the innocent one who didn't like to blackmail?"_

"No that's Soph- no, I guess not… Then it has to be Mar- no …Oh crap I _was_ the innocent one," she giggled.

_"Okay, okay…This little chat does not leave our rooms and shall not appear in Truth or Dare."_

"Deal. Glad to have this little talk with you Mirage. See you in school tomorrow."

_"Bye."_ Nel pressed the button again after she heard a small click from Mirage's end. Albel's channel was still blaring out heavy metal music, but the walls were thick enough to dull the sound.

"Lord Albel, there is a visitor waiting for you in the parlor." Nel sat up quickly, the maid sounded like she was near her door rather than Albel's.

"Bah, who is it, worm?" he replied gruffly. He was right behind her door. Nel felt like her heart was going to stop. Had he been eavesdropping? Did he hear what she just confessed to Mirage? In a flash, she was up and yanked open her door before the servant could answer his question. Sure enough, there he was, right behind her door.

"Lady Nel…?" the maid gasped before Albel glanced at Nel and hid something behind his back.

"What's with you? You're all pale," he pointed out as she looked at him fearfully.

"What were you doing in front of my door?" she asked in a shaky voice.

He only gave her a wicked grin, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Nel backed away a step as her eyes widened in horror. He knew. Why else would he be staring at her like that? He then turned to the maid while keeping the object concealed from Nel's view.

"Take me to this visitor then, maggot," he commanded. Nel watched as the two walked down the hallway. Albel glanced back at her every once in a while with a smirk. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, she thought was going to die of sheer embarrassment. That is until she caught a glimpse of her door and then everything fell into place. Albel had written something on her door with a red marker, which meant that he was busy defacing her door rather than eavesdropping. He probably didn't even try to listen in because he knew that they were talking about 'pointless things' again. But the message he left did its job well in enraging her once more. He wrote: 'The vampire's next victim' in big letters.

"ALBEL, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter of Aquios High! I'm still looking for information about any existing Alnel doujinshi and I'm also looking for some good Alnel fanart, so if you know of any links, then please, please, _please_ tell me! C ya next chapter! 


	6. Retribution

Thank you all for the reviews! I really do appreciate them. I usually try not to do any shout outs (because the fic gets too long to fit anything else in), but I have a few things I need to address. First, I do know who Fayt is going to end up with now, but I'm using James Ray Edwards idea (Thank you so much for it!) to keep you guys guessing for a while. I also had a few questions from Echoa and all I can say is that most of them will be answered in future chapters, except for the pink poodle one (It was actually a milk white poodle and she had pink ribbons). I have another announcement to make, I'm thinking about raising the rating up to 'T' because 1. I'm tired of trying to figure out which curse words are clean enough for 'K+' and 2. I might be introducing a new theme that is inappropriate for 'K+'. Oh and one more thing… I do not own SO3 or any of its characters, if I did then the whole game would be all about Albel and Nel. And now I present:

Chapter 6

Cliff yawned as he rolled over on his bed until he fell out. Because he never understood the concept of 'clean your room' from his mother, a soft pile of clothes cushioned his fall to the floor. He rubbed his messy blonde hair as he sat up and let his eyes adjust. Something woke him up, but what?

"Clifford! Are you up yet!" a shrill voice shouted from downstairs. Oh yeah…

"Yes ma!" he yelled back before muttering, "And my name is Cliff. That's what you wrote down on the birth certificate when you were doped up on morphine…"

"Mom! Did you hear what Cliff just said?" Maria said outside of his door before sounds of her feet running down the stairs were heard.

"Not now dear, I need to go to work," she replied softy before an evil smirk graced his features. Maria's tattling plan was foiled again. Cliff only sat there, occasionally scratching his head or his ears, as he listened to his mom gathering things to take with her to her job at the Kirlsa asylum. She had the dangerous job of taking care of the patients there and learned about all the horrors that caused people to go insane. That's why she was always worried about Cliff and Maria's mental health. Well, she was more worried about Cliff than Maria.

"Before I forget, here is some money for you and your brother. I heard about what happened at the cafeteria yesterday so I want you to go buy something _healthy_ to eat."

"Okay mom," Maria answered over the sound of coins.

"I won't be home this afternoon because I'm going to protest with the other parents about what they're serving at your school so could you be a dear and get dinner ready before I come home?"

"Sure mom."

"Thank you, oh and don't forget to tell your brother about tonight!"

Tell? Tell him what? Cliff wondered as he heard the front door open. Did Maria rat him out on something and got him toilet cleaning duty _again_?

"Clifford! I don't hear the pitter-patter of your feet. You better be getting dressed for school!" his mother warned before she finally left. He scowled as he picked up the nearest shirt and sniffed under the arm. He grimaced at the smell and threw it over his shoulder and then picked up another one.

After going through ten dirty shirts, he found a shirt that Mirage had made for him. It was completely black and had 'I'm a psychic amnesiac. I'll know in advance what I'll forget.' in white letters. He quickly checked to see if it was clean and then grinned when he found that it was. Mirage also had a shirt like his, but hers said 'Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana. The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two, but can't remember what they are.'

Maria knocked on his door and tried to open it just as he was pulling on the shirt. She had a hard time getting in with all the junk piled up near the door.

"Ugh, where's your floor?" she commented once she was in. He was pulling on a pair of pants when he paused and gave her a credulous look.

"I had a floor? …What's a floor?" She sighed and shook her head at him.

"Anyway, don't forget you have a date tonight," she said as she crossed her arms. Cliff only nodded absentmindedly as he walked over to his bed.

"Yeah, yeah …I **_WHAT_**?"

"You're going on a date tonight," she repeated, "If you paid attention last night when the phone rang, you would have heard mom setting you up on a date."

"With who?"

"For me to know and for you to find out. You should have been paying attention," Maria answered smugly as she headed out the door.

"Oh, by the way, did you like the lock I got for my journal?" he inquired sweetly to her retreating form. Her eyes widened before she whipped around to face him.

"I wasn't trying to read your diary last night! I-I mean…" she froze when he pulled out a small familiar book from under his pillow.

He grinned at the look on her face before he opened the book and started reading out loud, "Dear Diary, I can't believe it! I have got a major crush on Fayt Leingod! I hope it passes soon, before Sophia finds out-"

"GIVE IT BACK!" she screamed as she lunged for him. He dodged her gracefully and ran out the door with her diary with an evil laugh.

* * *

There was a strange smell all around Nel's room as she woke up. It smelled like …garlic? She opened her eyes and then turned on her lamp light. Her bed had garlic all over the top cover. There was only one person in the house who would go out of his way to do this. 

"ALBEL!"

No sooner than after the name left her mouth, the door opened and he sauntered right in, "You screamed, mademoiselle?"

She hated it when he used French words. It made him sound (as much as she didn't want to admit it)…sexy. Albel flipped the light switch and glanced at her before a smirk appeared.

"What's with all the garlic, Zelpher? Afraid of the big, bad vampire?"

"Stop fooling around! I know you did this and don't think making me mad is going to work this time," she warned as she pushed aside the covers and got up.

"Oh, this isn't to get you mad. This is revenge for yesterday."

"I thought defacing my door was your revenge?"

"Yeah, but that was for talking about me to those maggots you call your friends. This was for calling me a 'fatuous bully' before you started whispering about something," he explained as he approached her.

"Y-you heard that part?" she stuttered, a little nervous about the fact that he could have heard the whole conversation, "…Well it was true! You have been mean to me all day yesterday. I bet you can't say anything nice at all!"

He stopped right in front of her and crossed his arms as his crimson eyes bore down on her, "Oh really? What would happen if I said that I like your hair?"

She had a feeling he wasn't finished talking. She knew better than to believe him. He was probably going to add in something like _"…when it's washed"_ or something rude like that.

"What? Speechless?" he grinned before he backed away from her and headed for the door, "Anyway, I'm hungry so I'll see you in the dining room."

Stunned, Nel could only watch him leave with a blush on her cheeks. Did he really mean what he had said or was he just trying to prove her wrong? Albel had been acting strange ever since that visitor came. The mysterious guest was gone by the time she made it to the parlor so she didn't get to see who it was. And unfortunately for her, Albel wasn't going to tell her who it was no matter how many times she'd ask. Deciding that it was too early in the morning to figure out what he was up to, she walked over to her closet to get dressed.

Despite the fact that it was autumn, it was still a little too warm to wear pants or long sleeved shirts so she pulled out another low cut short sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts. She picked shorts this time so she wouldn't have another incident like yesterday. Thank Apris Albel was the only one who saw her underwear otherwise everyone in the school would have known about 4th period. Of course, she would have to be careful because it wasn't certain that he would stay silent about it. But then again, he doesn't talk to anyone but her so maybe she was safe.

Breakfast was just being served when Nel entered the dining room. It was bacon and scrambled eggs today. She sat down across from Albel and started eating. Breakfast passed by peacefully and for once they had a rather civilized conversation about sword techniques instead of opening old wounds and starting another argument. Soon the chef came out of the kitchen and placed two lunch boxes on the table.

"What the hell are these for?" Albel muttered once the chef left. Nel wiped her mouth with her napkin before she glanced at him.

"They're for carrying your lunch to and from school, genius." He opened his mouth to retort only to close it in surprise as a servant came in with a tray that held a speaker phone.

"Lady Nel, Sir Nevelle wishes to speak with you," he replied as he set down the phone.

"Daddy?" she said as she leaned toward the phone.

"Daddy?" Albel mimicked, earning a glare from her.

_"Ah, hello kids! Just checking up on you…"_ It sounded like he was in the middle of a battle. Nel slightly shook her head. Glou was the type to fight while talking on a cell phone and now her father was getting as reckless as he was.

"Where are you?" she wondered after it sounded like he slashed through a monster.

_"Good question, Glou got us lost."_ In the back ground, they could hear Glou shouting 'Did not!'

"Hopefully mother isn't out there with you…" Nel said in a worried tone.

_"Oh no, she's at the hotel-I mean-shrine with Karen."_ Albel raised an eyebrow at the slip up. So he was right in thinking that they were not at Kaddan. Suddenly there was a roar followed by the sound of the cell phone being dropped. Nel gasped, worried about her father until the phone was picked up and a new voice was heard.

_"Sorry 'bout that, Nevelle needed to fight with both hands. So how are you two doing? Are you both getting along? I hope you didn't hurt Albel in any vital areas, Nel. Karen's still hoping for grandchildren."_ Nel giggled at Glou's words. Albel glanced at her with an odd expression on his face before he scowled at the phone.

"So what are you fighting dad?" he eventually asked, speaking for the first time since the telephone was brought to them.

_"Beats me," _Glou answered in a casual tone, _"But whatever these monsters are, they are holding us back so we won't be coming home today."_

They both stared at each other. Glou and Nevelle knew every monster in Gaitt. They would have to be in Greeton to not know what they were fighting.

"Okay dad, spill it. Where are you really?" Albel held back his irritated growl when Glou ignored him.

_"So Albel, since you have been a good boy lately, your mother and I decided to let you choose to stay another night with Nel or go home."_

He thought his choices over for a moment. If he went home after school then he would get peaceful silence, but if he stayed with Nel then he could continue to play around with her sanity, which, he had to admit, was amusing. He then remembered that he hadn't been training for a long while, minus fencing class, and he needed to start again before his skills got rusty.

"Has our training equipment come in yet?" he wondered.

_"No, not yet. It's not coming for another week."_

"Okay then, I'll stay here and destroy Zelpher's."

"Hey! …Don't I get a say in this?" she muttered and then glowered when both Albel and Glou immediately replied 'No.'

_"So it's settled then? …Eh, here comes another batch of those monsters so we'll see you-HOLY APRIS! Nevelle, look at the size of that one!"_ Albel and Nel blinked as the phone clicked off followed by the servant taking the object away.

"My dad slipped up and said 'hotel' and they are fighting unknown monsters, so they must be at the resort near Greeton," Nel surmised as she rested her arms on the table. Albel still looked troubled by the call.

"Something doesn't fit though. Your father was a great spy, it's unlikely that he'd slip unless it was on purpose," he said before she gave him a contemplating look. He seemed to have a lot of respect for her father, probably because of the fact that Nevelle was less aggravating towards him than Glou.

"But your father avoided your question," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but that only means that they're hiding something. We still have no real clue where they are or what they are up to. They are making it obvious that they're not at Kaddan and thinking that they are at a resort is way too easy for the likes of them." He was right, but whatever they were up to couldn't be too dangerous. After all, their mothers were with them and they didn't have any fighting abilities.

Nel fixed her gaze towards the grandfather clock across the room and added, "We'll have to think about this later, it's getting late."

Albel nodded and silently followed her out of the dinning room.

* * *

The day started off like every other day as Mirage was the first to arrive, followed by Albel and Nel. No greetings or arguments passed their lips as they waited in companionable silence for classes to begin. Soon their peace was disturbed by the sound of Roger screaming for Nel's attention as he was being dragged over to the Junior High by Peppita, alerting them that the bus arrived and that their friends were coming. 

"Hey Mirage! Great minds think alike, eh?" Cliff greeted as he pointed to his shirt. Mirage glanced down to see what she was wearing and found that she also had the same kind of shirt on. Her morning ritual was to put on the first thing she pulled out of the closet so she never knew what she was wearing until someone pointed it out.

"I guess so," she returned with a smile. Nel said good morning to the rest and received tired replies from her friends. Maria looked like she was both tired and slightly angry as she glared at Cliff while Sophia looked miffed and bored, never a good sign for the group. Fayt, however, seemed unusually tired _and_ happy, meaning he must have finished off another video game last night. Maria yawned before her eyes traveled to Fayt, allowing her to notice his expression as well.

"Fayt? Inquiring minds want to know what made you this happy and how many hours of sleep did you get this time?" she asked, making Sophia glare at Fayt.

"I finished 'Xenosaga' last night and this time I got five hours of sleep…"

"And he keeps calling me 'pêche' and won't tell me what it means!" Sophia finished for him.

"One of the bad guys on the game calls a main character that and the only reason why I'm calling Sophia that is _because_ she doesn't know what it means," he explained with a grin as he watched her ball her fists and turn red in the face.

Cliff moved to stand next to Mirage as Nel glanced at Sophia. Nel leaned French in Airyglyph with Albel so she knew what Fayt was calling her, "Pêche means peach, Sophia."

"So in other words, he's calling her a fruit?" Cliff guessed as Sophia's eyes widened.

"Hey! I'm not a fruit!"

"Could've fooled me, maggot," Albel muttered, earning a giggle from Nel before everyone else joined in. Sophia frowned and was about to call him a 'meanie', but was caught off guard as he stared at Nel with a strange expression on his face. The corner of his lips was slightly curved upward, leaving an almost unnoticeable smile on his face. What was he happy about all of a sudden? A minute ago he was scowling at everyone.

It stuck Sophia like lightning as she realized that Albel must like it when Nel laughs, _"Oh-ho, so he thinks she's cute when she laughs, does he?"_

"Uh, Elicoor to Sophia, weren't you about to tell him off?" Fayt wondered as he waved his hand in front of her face. She snapped out of her thoughts and stared at the ground. She needed to test out her theory before she could make such accusations. Maybe he was on happy pills and it finally kicked in? Soon she remembered that Fayt had asked her a question and needed to respond before everyone started thinking she really was a fruit.

"Uh, never mind about that!" she replied as she shook her head, "Cliff! Say something funny."

She wanted to see if that look would come back to Albel's face if Nel laughed again, but Cliff only stared at her before responding with, "…something funny…"

"Oh! That's not what I meant!" she pouted, gaining worried glances from Nel, Fayt, and Maria.

"Hi everyone, ready for the weekend?" Clair wondered as she made her way to the front doors of the school.

"Am I ever! I'm going to buy 'Xenosaga II' tonight and play all weekend," Fayt responded before Sophia slowly shook her head and gave him a disgusted look. Cliff and Mirage quickly stepped forward to block Clair's way before she could get past the small group.

"Hello Miss Clair," Mirage started.

"Where's Coach?" Cliff inquired.

Clair only blinked at the blondes, "Do I look like his caretaker?"

"Yes," they replied in unison, making her sigh and shake her head.

"…He's in the gym," she muttered dejectedly before they smiled at each other and pushed past her to go pull a prank on their favorite teacher.

"Uh, wait Miss Clair!" Sophia shouted before the teacher's aide could get away, "Do you know any funny stories?"

"I know a few, but only Nel would understand them because she was most likely there when they happened," she replied after thinking about it, "…Like the time Lancar stole Benadryl from the nurse's office and then crushed it up and then pretended to sniff it. Duke Vox thought he was really doing cocaine and had him suspended from school for a week."

Nel started snickering as she added, "And at your graduation, the valedictorian himself was remembered as 'Benadryl Boy'!"

The two girls chuckled at the memory as that look reappeared on Albel's features. It was now a small smile and he had to face another direction before anyone noticed. Unfortunately, Sophia saw it all. He couldn't have been laughing at her because Nel didn't snort or anything when she giggled, in fact she had a rather pretty laugh that Sophia wished she had (mostly because Fayt and Maria made fun of hers). Still, the experiment was enough to confirm her suspicions and sealed Albel and Nel's fate. But unfortunately for Sophia, it wasn't enough to set them up on anything. She knew Nel was head over heels for the guy, but she could tell that Albel hadn't even realized he liked her yet. Still, it was only a matter of time before the floodgate opened between the two and then Sophia will be there to secretly tape their first kiss and first date for her video yearbook. Maria was right, she _was_ scary when it came to other people's relationships. Sophia then let out an evil laugh that would have made Albel proud if it wasn't high-pitched and annoying like Farleen's voice.

Fayt grinned as he faced Maria, "I guess we should go get the straight jacket and take Sophia back to the asylum."

"We should also find the mute button on her before she breaks glass," Maria added before Sophia stopped and faced them.

"Stop making fun of my laugh, you meanies!"

* * *

"Marietta." 

"Here."

"Steeg."

"I think I'm here."

"Lieber."

"I'm physically here…"

"But you're never mentally here because you never had a brain."

"Shut up, Steeg!"

"Settle down boys…Sophia."

"Here."

"Cliff." He cleared his throat, making Clair groan in annoyance before she started using a sarcastic, monotone voice, "Oh I'm sorry, I meant to say 'Prank Master Cliff' are you here Your Majesty?"

"I believe so," he replied as he examined his nails, earning eye rolls from Clair, Nel, Mirage, and Maria.

"……Mirage."

"Qui."

"That's …Italian right?"

"Sí."

"Fayt."

"Here."

"Welch."

"Present!"

"Maria."

"Here."

"Nel."

"Here."

"…Let's see… the underclassmen aren't here… Albel." There was nothing but silence. Clair looked up from her clipboard and found him slouching in his desk next to Nel. She was about to mark him present anyway when Nel suddenly faced him with a glare and cracked her knuckles.

He only regarded her wearily, unfazed by her threatening gesture, before he finally let out, "…Here."

Clair marked down all the information and then flipped a page for the announcements, "I have a few announcements. The underclassmen may not be coming back to homeroom because a majority of them flunked their exams and they need tutoring. I'm sure you will all miss them…"

"Uh, who were they again?" Steeg wondered before Clair continued.

"…And…Oh, I guess that's all the announcements, but on a personal note for those of you who knew Lancar. He just got hired by a major gaming company and is one step closer to world domination through video games."

"Aww, that's my dream…" Fayt whined as Clair moved to sit at her desk. The class fell back into the usual homeroom silence, but Sophia was still bored and as mentioned before, a bored Sophia was _not_ a good thing. Who knows what chaos she could cause? Soon chaos came in the form of an idea within her head. Truth or Dare.

She nearly squealed and clapped her hands at the thought, but instead held in her excitement in as she examined the class for the first victim. Her gaze fell on Cliff. He'd always pick dare and would do everything he was dared to do, but that got dull fast. She thought about daring him to kiss Mirage until she remembered that she promised Maria that she'd remain ignorant to Cliff's love interest. Mirage was another possible choice. She always picked truth, but since no one, except Cliff, knew much about her, no one (not even Cliff because he never wanted to) could call her on a lie. It was a rule they made up to keep the game interesting, if someone can prove that the person is not telling the truth, then the person must answer another question or pick dare. Same goes for the dare, except that if the person can't perform the dare correctly, then they have to do another one or pick truth.

Sophia then glanced at Fayt. Way to easy for her, she knew everything about him and he was known to back out of a dare. Maria then came to mind. Sophia had noticed that she had been acting strange. Maria had been refusing to talk to her lately, so she guessed that she's was starting to have a crush on somebody. But who did she have a crush on? Truth or Dare wouldn't answer the mystery because there was no guarantee that Maria would pick truth. Even if she did, no one would know if she was telling truth. No matter, Sophia knew she would find out who eventually, she was good at that. But for now, Maria was out of the question.

Sophia's gaze then traveled to Albel. The thought died before it even began. There was no way she could have the guts to even _ask_ him 'Truth or Dare'. And then there was Nel. Nel? Perfect!

"Nel?" she began, catching everyone's attention, "Truth or Dare?"

"Wha?" Nel stuttered. This was not good. With Sophia calling the shots, either choice spelled her doom, "Uh…truth."

Sophia grinned as she tried to think of a good one to ask her, "What happened in 4th period yesterday?"

"I…" She was relieved that she didn't ask anything about Albel, but how was she going to explain Biology class without having to tell the whole truth? How could she word it without it becoming a lie? Everyone was staring at her, waiting for an answer, making it hard for her to think. Suddenly she had an idea, "…I fell out of my chair."

"Hmph, liar," Albel muttered. Nel held back an angry growl. Even though he didn't know the rules, he was about to get her caught in a lie so she had to think fast before Sophia could let out an 'ah-ha!'

"Okay then," she gritted her teeth, "I was _pushed_ out of my chair, by Albel!"

That time he didn't say anything and everyone else seemed satisfied enough with her response. At least until Maria sat up with a confused face, "Wait, that's it?"

"Yeah, what's so humiliating about that?" Sophia wondered as she tilted her head.

"You asked 'what happened', but you didn't ask 'what was so humiliating'," Nel explained before Sophia pouted. She then faced Mirage, "Now it's my turn. Mirage, Truth or Dare?"

Now it was time to pick on Mirage. Nel knew she would pick truth and wanted to make her squirm. Mirage's blue eyes narrowed at her before she replied with, "Truth."

"Alright. Who…" she paused while giving her a wicked smile. Mirage probably thought she was going to ask 'who do you have a crush on' because Nel could see her body tense up and her hands clenching into fists, "…Who have you last pulled a prank on?"

"What? You could've come up with a better question than that!" Fayt complained as Mirage relaxed.

"Yesterday, when I had government, I put hot sauce on Duke Vox's slice of cake he had on his desk and he ran out of the room before he could assign any homework." She earned many chuckles and grateful thank yous from the others. No one was very fond of the duke.

"Wait a second. If Vox was your last victim, then why did you want to see my dad earlier?" Clair asked as she looked up from her crossword puzzle.

"We couldn't find him," she responded with a shrug.

"Yeah, some caretaker you are. You left the door open so he could escape," Cliff grumbled as Mirage looked around for the next victim. Since Nel had already been picked on, Mirage couldn't exactly get back at her for the unneeded stress. Or could she? Everyone watched as Mirage smirked and placed a hand on Cliff's shoulder to pull him closer to her. She then whispered in his ear until a smile similar to hers appeared on his face. Once Cliff nodded in agreement to whatever she had said, she faced the class once more.

"Albel, Truth or Dare?" A collective gasp was heard before all eyes turned to Albel. He only glared back at them. Maria, Fayt, and Sophia's eyes were as wide as saucers from Mirage's bravado. Even Clair dropped her pencil in shock.

But before Albel could open his mouth to reply, Cliff quickly shouted, "All pansies pick truth!"

"Fine then, maggot, dare." This time Nel went into shock, he was actually going to play? Mirage wouldn't break her promise and mention something about last night, would she?

"…I dare you to say something nice about Nel." A heavy awkward quiet fell across them room as they waited to see if he would actually do it. Sophia and Maria had wide grins while Nel calmed down and slightly rolled her eyes. She figured that he was going to repeat what he had said to her this morning.

"Okay," he said as he turned to Nel, "In reference to yesterday …nice ass."

Jaws dropped to the floor as Nel grew red from anger, "You pig! That's not even remotely _close_ to nice!"

"Now _I_ want to know what happened yesterday," Fayt commented with an interested look on his face before Sophia hit him upside the head.

"Pervert!" she yelled as he rubbed his sore head.

"Well that wasn't very nice at all," Mirage said as she shook her head. She certainly wasn't expecting _that_ to come out of his mouth, "Now you will have to do another dare. That is, unless you want to pick truth."

"Go ahead pansy boy, pick truth," Cliff taunted, earning an irritated death glare from him.

"I hope you die a slow, painful death, maggot," he growled at him before adding, "Give me another dare, worm."

"This is your last chance. I dare you to be nice to Nel for the rest of the day. If she complains about you at all, then Cliff will be forced to give you a swirly," she threatened as Cliff placed his arms behind his head and gave a smug smile in Albel's direction.

"Not that I don't appreciate what you are doing," Nel began after she sighed, "But not even Cliff is strong enough to hold him down for a swirly."

"Hey!" an offended Cliff shouted as Mirage crossed her arms.

"Don't worry, we'll also enlist Coach Adray's help. He owes us, so I know he'll help."

Nel was about to try again to free Albel from his dare, but was in for the surprise of her life when he said in an angry tone, "Are you implying that I can't be nice for a whole day?"

"Well you _are_ Albel the Wicked," she reminded him, "And you couldn't even accomplish the first dare."

"I accept the challenge," he snapped, thoroughly startling her into silence. Was he that determined to prove her wrong? It wasn't long before she thought of the advantage she had over him. Unless he wanted a swirly, then he _had_ to be nice to her and that meant that she could make him do embarrassing things! But she would have to be careful not to go overboard because she only had one day and then he would be free to torment her once again, starting with his vengeance. Until then, however, today was going to be a fun day. An almost maniacal grin appeared on her face, making Albel regret what he had said.

Steeg leaned forward to Marietta and whispered, "Is this Nel's dark side?"

"I think so…" she replied as the bell rang. Nel was about to reach for her bag, but found Albel's hand grabbing it and hoisting it on his shoulder with his bag.

"Thank you Albel," she said sweetly.

"Whatev- …You're welcome," he mumbled as he passed her desk. She took hold of his braids to make sure he didn't leave without her.

"You know, I like your hair too," she stated softly so only he could hear her. She always wanted to say that to him just to see his reaction, but before today, she was afraid that he'd bite her head off for saying such things. Since his back was facing her, she didn't get to see the look on his face, but she knew he heard her.

"You don't need to pull my hair, woman. I haven't done anything," he grumbled, acting like she hadn't said anything. Fayt approached them and took one glance at Albel and then at Nel.

"Jeez, who are you? 'Nel the Wicked'?"

"That's _my_ name, fool," Albel snarled at the blue haired boy.

Fayt only blinked, "…Your name is Nel?"

"No, I'm Albel the Wicked!"

"_Sure_ you are," he teased as he walked away.

"You little-" Albel was about to chase him down only to be held back by his red haired captor.

"Down boy," she commanded as she gave his hair a small tug. Once Maria and Sophia were ready to go, they moved to the front of the classroom where Nel and Albel were. Both girls giggled at his misfortune before he turned and snatched his hair from her grasp with a small tint of red on his face. Was he blushing?

"Aww, how cute!" Sophia cooed.

"Get a life, fruit," he retorted.

"Hey, you're supposed to be nice!" she scolded as she put her hands on her hips.

"Uh, yeah, to Nel," Maria reminded before she started dragging Sophia out the classroom.

* * *

'Nel the Wicked' continued to torture Albel for at least two periods before she felt bad and gave him a break. Either way, Mirage was able to repay her for her advice so she didn't care how Nel treated him as long as she was happy. All that was left to do now was to actually use Nel's advice so Mirage had asked Cliff to get out of class seventh period and meet her near the gym. That happened shortly after 1st period, so she had to wait the entire day, thinking her words carefully and plotting on how to exactly approach him. Hopefully everything will be okay in the end because it was rather humiliating to be beaten three times in a row in one day by him in 5th period. That was how distracted she was. 

It was now close to the end of sixth period as she stared blankly into her calculus book while tapping her pencil on the desk. Farleen had long since stopped lecturing and had everyone read ahead in the next chapter for a quiz on Monday.

"Will you stop that incessant tapping, worm?" Albel snapped before he got fed up and snatched the pencil out of her hand.

"Give it back to her," Nel ordered as he tried to break it.

"Yes mother…" he muttered under his breath while tossing the writing utensil back to Mirage.

"What was that?"

"I said 'yes ma'am'," he replied before mumbling, "…get your ears checked…"

Nel counted backwards from ten as she let it slide. He was only cranky because Farleen gave out another long lecture and she couldn't blame him because she didn't have a picnic listening to her either. Mirage quickly apologized and went back to reading, but soon her hand unconsciously traveled back to the pencil and began tapping once more.

"IF YOU DON'T STOP THAT, SO HELP ME APRIS, I'LL…" whatever Albel was going to say was cut off by the bell and the now terrified students ran out of the classroom. He let out a sigh of frustration before he gathered both his and Nel's things and stormed out the door, followed by a very amused Nel. Mirage slowly took a deep breath and headed out the door.

"Have a nice weekend!" Farleen called out once she recovered from Albel's outburst.

Her first stop was to her locker to put up her calculus book. She was bombarded by love letters from her stubborn suitors the second she opened the door. Her mother only wanted her to be happy so she searched far and wide for the perfect man for her daughter. Unfortunately, the 'men' she found were only interested in money or were perverted and only wanted into her pants. She opened the locker beneath hers, and shoved the unwanted trash into it, not caring who the locker belonged to.

"I got 'Tears of Aphrodite' that could help you with your…girl trouble," a voice said from around the corner. Mirage quietly closed the locker door. That's sounded like Welch.

"Uh, no thanks. I wasn't even aware I had 'girl trouble'." And that was Cliff. She carefully approached the corner and found the two talking within the crowded hallway.

"That's not what I've been hearing from Marietta," she teased as Cliff shook his head.

"Ah, what does she know? Do have the secret ingredient or not?"

Welch pulled out several little white packets, "That'll be 200 Fol, please."

"Hey! Why'd the price go up?"

"Ever since everyone saw what it did for Fayt, the demand for the stuff has gone up. And in this economy when demand goes up, so does the prices!"

Mirage knew that Cliff didn't have enough money so she pulled out the correct change and snuck up behind him. She lightly poked his butt with the tip of her shoe and ran up to Welch when he whipped around to see who did it.

"Huh, who's there?" Cliff wondered as she dropped the money into Welch's hand. She used his blind spot to keep herself from being discovered as he faced Welch again and then carefully backed up until she was behind the corner.

"Thank you, a pleasure doing business with you," Welch sang before she giggled at Cliff's confusion when she gave him the package.

"Mirage? Was that you?" Cliff asked once the inventor was gone. Mirage held her breath and stayed very still so he wouldn't find her. Why was she hiding from him? Not even she knew why. The tardy bell rang, making the hallways eerily quiet as the students ran to their class. Mirage released her breath once she was sure Cliff was gone.

"Hey, what cha doin'?" She nearly jumped ten feet in the air as Cliff leaned against the corner.

"What are you doing here?" she inquired while she recovered from her shock.

"…You said you wanted to talk to me and to meet up during 7th," he responded with an amused grin.

"I mean, why aren't you in class? I thought you were going to go in there and come up with an excuse to get out?"

"Nah, ol' Noppen won't even miss me." He knew Mirage was an office aide this period so he didn't bother to ask about her, "Let's go before a teacher catches us."

They began to walk towards the gym, neither one daring to speak to the other. Mirage finally noticed that Cliff refused to make eye contact with her anymore and he kept a certain distance away from her when they were beside each other. She couldn't believe that she hadn't realized it sooner. On the way there, Cliff had switched all the restroom signs and waved at the students that were studying in the classrooms. When they passed the Art room, they both made faces at Albel and Nel. Albel flipped them off before Nel grabbed his hand and forced it down on the table when Stanice turned to see what all the ruckus was about. When they arrived at their destination, they found Adray snoring away on one of the workout benches.

"Sleeping on the job?" Cliff smirked as he ran over to Adray, grabbed his large hand, and shoved them inside his drawstring pants. Mirage rolled her eyes as Cliff backed away to examine his handy work.

"That's so old…" she muttered before she pulled out a piece of paper and her favorite sharpie from her back pack and wrote 'My sweat socks are weapons of mass destruction' on the paper. She then pulled out a mini stapler and asked Cliff to roll him over. When the coach was face down on the bench, she stapled the note to the back of his pants before Cliff returned him to his original position.

"There ya go Coach, courtesy of the King and Queen of pranks," he chuckled as he backed away. When Mirage didn't speak up, he stared off in space as he faced the door to the gym. Before Mirage could snap him out of it, he shook his head and said, "You should have made Clair call you by your proper title this morning."

Where did that come from all of a sudden? Mirage stretched before replying with, "That's okay, I don't mind. I'm content with just being your partner in crime."

He flinched at her words while she shut her eyes and berated herself on how stupid she was. She should be telling him about how she felt about him, not how she liked being his friend! Cliff eventually coughed and tried to change the subject.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

Mirage took a deep breath. It was now or never, "Remember the chat we had yesterday morning in the garden?"

"…Yeah," he replied hesitantly.

"Well…I jumped to conclusions and… Do you like me, Cliff?"

"_What_?" he shouted as he faced her, "That's a dumb question, of course I like you! You're my bes-"

"No, I mean, do like me more than a friend? I want to know because…because I-" she was cut off as a loud 'ding' sounded on the speakers, alerting everyone that an announcement was coming.

_"Students and teachers, I'm sure you are well aware of the heinous crimes committed upon me after lunch two days ago and I'd like to announce that my investigation has come to an end._ _I have found the culprit, or should I say 'culprits'?"_ Lasselle paused and inhaled, _"CLIFF FITTIR AND MIRAGE KOAS, REPORT TO MY OFFICE **NOW**!"_

"Damn! I wonder who squealed," He muttered as he turned away from her.

"…Oh-no, Dad said that if I got in trouble one more time, then I'm grounded for five months." Mirage held her hand to her forehead in aggravation. Cliff glanced at her with a concerned face.

"Come on, we'd better go before he gets angrier," he suggested as he headed down the hall.

* * *

(backs away in fear) N-no don't get mad at me…I didn't mean to leave a cliff hanger! The darn chapter was getting long again so I had to split it. (sees a crowd growing outside) Please don't hurt me! I won't be able to post the next chapter if you do! (cries) I only have half of it done!(Grabs an Albel plushie and curls up into a fetal position) …C ya next chapter…I hope… 


	7. Partners in More Ways Than One

Aww…You guys are so nice and understanding! I love you all! …Though there was a few who threatened me in the reviews (mumbles) ungrateful little…(sees darkladyxion959 on top of Crosell with a pitchfork in her hand and an army forming behind her) (Sorceress Myst panics and grabs her Albel plushie)…But at least I get reviews and they were the nicest threatening reviews I ever got! I appreciate them along with the kind ones! So now that I'm updating, you can put down your weapons now. To answer NoxFiorre's question, no I don't hate Sophia. In fact the only one who's being mean to her is Albel (but that's because he's Albel), everyone else is just teasing her.

Disclaimer: Sorceress Myst does not own (insert video game/anime title) or any of its characters. She especially doesn't own (insert hottest male character within the chosen title) and (insert female character who belongs to the hottest male character). Sorceress Myst also does not have (insert form of currency) so don't bother suing.

Chapter 7

_"CLIFF FITTIR AND MIRAGE KOAS, REPORT TO MY OFFICE **NOW**!"_

Nel glanced up from the announcement, "Uh-oh…"

"What are you worried about? We just won the bet," Albel muttered as he drew random pictures of a bunny trying to commit suicide.

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right," she agreed before finishing off a sketch of two swordfighters.

* * *

_"CLIFF FITTIR AND MIRAGE KOAS, REPORT TO MY OFFICE **NOW**!"_

Fayt, Maria, Sophia, and Welch stared at each other in chemistry class. Lasselle sounded furious.

"They got in trouble? No…" Maria said softly as Sophia banged her fist on the on the countertop only to flinch and whisper 'Ow!' Fayt slightly shook his head at Sophia's action.

"Woo! What did I tell you? They got in trouble anyway and Fayt didn't have to say a word!" Welch danced around the classroom until the teacher requested her to sit down.

"There's still a possibility that they could prove to Lasselle that they're innocent," Fayt commented, hoping that it would cheer Maria up.

"He's right," Sophia suddenly joined as she cradled her hand, "Lasselle's only interrogating them, he doesn't have proof that they're guilty."

* * *

Cliff and Mirage stared at the wooden door that contained a small brass plaque that said 'Principal'. Lasselle's angry announcement was still echoing off the walls. Cliff pushed the door open and allowed Mirage to go in first before he followed. The office was unusually dark, the only source of light was the small lamp that illuminated Lasselle's face. The principal himself was sitting there with a mad, but smug look in his eyes. He probably thought he had the upper hand for once. 

"Why are you standing there near the door? Come sit down, your usual seats are waiting for you," he grated out sweetly as they took their seats in front of his desk. Cliff on the left, Mirage on the right.

"Hello there sir, glad to see you in good health. I hope Fayt managed to squeeze out the situation you were in, gas can be deadly," Cliff greeted in a cheerful manner. Lasselle glared at him before he ignored his comment.

"I'm sure you are well aware of why you're here today, Mr. Fittir, Ms. Koas," he replied as he glanced at them pointedly.

"Not really, you only made an announcement about the incident of two days ago and said you found the culprits before you screamed our names," Mirage stated in a serious tone, "We can't tell if you're blaming us or trying to question us."

"Ah, well, to clear up confusion, yes I am blaming you. I have a strong belief that you are both responsible."

"Now wait a minute," Cliff interjected, "What proof do you have? You can't just say we did it out of the blue."

"You are correct, Mr. Fittir, but what if I told you that I found a witness who saw you stealing Coach Adray's socks?" Cliff and Mirage looked at each other quizzically before he continued, "Do either of you remember the exploding pizza incident of last year?"

"Oh, you mean that time when Luther and his gang placed a strange chemical near the delivery pizzas that …_someone_ ordered and it exploded from some a weird reaction it had to the heat of the pizzas?" Cliff wondered as he sat up excitedly, "I remember it well. That was a good day, wasn't it Mirage?"

"Good times, good times," she nodded in agreement as Lasselle leaned back in his chair.

"Yes, that 'good day'. You know for some odd reason, I seem to remember it differently. I remember a smart young lad, who went by the name of _Cliff_, who borrowed Lady Nel's cell phone and ordered 50 pizzas to be delivered to the school. The lad's little accomplice, _Mirage_, mixed together several heat sensitive chemicals and gave them to the young lad to plant near the food when it was delivered. And because the chemicals were set off when Master Luther was nearby, I thought he was the one responsible! I must tell you, _who ever_ came up with that idea was a genius," he explained sarcastically.

Cliff smirked a bit as he said, "Well I don't like to brag-"

Mirage quickly elbowed him in the arm before he could make the situation worse. Lasselle's eyes narrowed at them.

"So you _do_ remember the incident. Now tell me, do you remember what happened _after_ that?"

Everyone knew what happened after that, Luther was so enraged with Cliff and Mirage that he sent his two goons, Berial and Belzeber, to Peterny to beat them up. Fortunately, they were both easily defeated by Cliff and Mirage's martial arts techniques and were sent back to their leader with their tail between their legs. Soon after, Luther decided to attack Cliff by himself during school and it took all of Mirage's diplomatic skills to convince Cliff not to fight back. In the end, Luther managed to slightly beat up Cliff and got sent to alternative school for starting the fight while Cliff didn't get in trouble at all. Of course, it was Mirage who ended up suffering because she had to listen to Cliff complain about how he had to let the 'whiney bastard' win.

"We do remember it, but what does this have to do with us two days ago?" Mirage inquired with a bit of curiosity.

"Luther has returned from alternative school yesterday and informed me that his friends, Berial and Belzeber, had witnessed the incident, but I have yet to question them. Luther had also told me that he had seen you both in Arias, stealing Adray's sweat socks the day before." Lasselle was setting them up for a trap, he knew that Adray never took his socks home. He was hopping for Cliff to screw up and tell him where they really obtained the socks, thus proving that they were the culprits.

"That's impossible, sir," Mirage blurted out before Cliff could open his mouth, "What Luther is accusing us of happened on Tuesday, and I was at home practicing the piano all day after school, ask my mother."

It was the truth, and right after her piano lessons, she took some wire out of the piano and sent it to Cliff. Her answer seemed to silence Lasselle for now, but it won't be long before they were in big trouble. Now that Luther was back, Berial and Belzeber had their 'brain' back and could testify against them as witnesses. She glanced at Cliff from the corner of her eye and noticed that he was winking at her. She recognized the signal and moved her left hand from her lap to her side. He immediately covered her slender hand with his large one, making to look like they were holding hands. But what was really happening was that Cliff was hiding Mirage's fingers from Lasselle's sight as she felt around the bottom of her seat for a button they installed during one of their many visits. Once she pressed the button it flashed red for a few seconds before it sent a radio signal out of the room.

Inside one of the janitor's broom closets, a few rooms away from the principal's office, there was an identical flash of red light as another one of Welch's ingenious robot inventions activated. It was the size of a little girl's doll and had a digital screen on its head that showed expressions. Green eyes and a happy smile appeared on the screen as the robot stood on all fours and shook like a wet dog to free itself from the clutter in the closet. When the machine was able to reach the door, little spider arms came out of its back and helped the robot climb up to the door knob to escape. When it was sure that there was no one in the hall way, it used the spider legs to crawl over to the lockers. Locker #606 was an unused locker that Cliff stuffed several stink bombs into and kept them under lock and key. The robot approached the locker and pulled out a key from its chest compartment to undo the lock. Once the door was opened, the small object pulled out an inflated plastic bag before it quickly closed the door and replaced the lock.

Suddenly, the bell rang and the robot immediately used the spider legs to scale the lockers until it was at a place where no one could see it. Next, the machine pulled out a needle and raised it above the stink bomb like a knife as the head spun around once and the green eyes turned red while the smile became maniacal.

Back in the office, Lasselle leaned forward and placed his elbows on the top of the desk before he rested his head on his hands, "So you are both still insisting that you are innocent, eh? If I were you, I'd confess the truth right now and receive a lighter punishment. If you don't want to say anything at all, then that's fine. I'm sure Berial and Belzeber would be happy to do all the talking for you. But I must warn you, if they speak for you, then the punishment would be much worse."

Neither one dared to speak, but before Lasselle could confuse their silence for insolence, a loud pop was heard followed by several students screaming. Cliff and Mirage held back their smirks as Lasselle glanced up at the door.

"What the…" he started as the little speaker box on his desk activated.

_"Sir!__ It's a stink bomb! We can't find who set it off, but it's affecting three of the major hallways and the smell is awful! Some of the students can't breathe!"_ the secretary reported frantically. Lasselle glared at Cliff.

"You!" he growled before Cliff grinned and shrugged.

"What can I say? I'm so great that I can be at two places at once!" he chuckled, dismissing Lasselle's accusation.

His body shook with anger as he stormed around the desk and headed towards the door. He had one hand on the knob before he faced them one last time, "You stay here while I check this out! Don't you dare go through my refrigerator while I'm gone. I got the bottle caps marked this time so I can tell…"

Once he left and slammed the door shut, they both sighed.

"What are we going to do, Cliff? Give up and confess?"

"Don't worry, I got a plan," he reassured as he gave her a confident smile, "I want you to, no matter what, keep your mouth shut."

"What?" She looked at him with a confused expression.

"…I'm going to take full responsibility, but as of now, you had nothing to do with it."

"_What_?" she repeated a bit louder, "You can't! We both-"

Cliff stopped her, "Didn't you say that your father would ground you forever if you got in trouble again? Trust me, it'll be fine."

Mirage was speechless. Sure there were times when he'd risk his neck to keep her out of trouble, but he'd _never_ take the blame for _anyone_. She wanted to stop him, she should have, but she knew that she couldn't. When his mind was made up, nothing could stop him.

"But Cliff…" she pleaded softly.

"Don't worry about it. 'Sides I'd consider it lucky if I got grounded," he added as he thought about the date his mom had set him up on. Since he wasn't over Mirage yet, he couldn't bear to see another woman so soon and this would be the perfect opportunity to get out if it. They sat in uncomfortable silence until Lasselle finally returned, smelling like rotten fish and cheap cologne.

"Woo! Did you take a swim in the cafeteria dumpsters or did Fayt give you another hug, sir?" That earned him a dirty look from the principal.

"Ha, ha, very funny," he muttered sarcastically as he sat down at his desk and tried to act like nothing happened, "Now where were we…?"

"Okay, sir, you got me. I did it. I was the one who took Coach Adray's socks, I was the one who made Fayt drink an energy drink that made him extremely hyper, and I was the one who planted the socks in your pocket. It was me and I'm sorry."

Mirage could only watch in amazement as Cliff sat there and told Lasselle everything. He only told half the truth, leaving out the parts that involved her…well, okay, the 'I'm sorry' part was a complete lie. Lasselle had an arrogant grin on his mug as he wrote down everything he said. But he soon realized something was missing.

"Wait, you forgot to mention…" he looked over to Mirage.

"She had nothing to do with it, sir. She was in the cafeteria at the time, talking to Maria about shoes or fashion, or something. You know, girl things," Cliff explained with a straight face.

"Ah, of course! I knew it all along that it was only you. I just wanted to see if you'd go as low as to blame everything on her," Lasselle justified with fake confidence. Cliff glared at him as he clenched his fist. How dare Lasselle to even _say_ that he'd betray Mirage! For the rest of the period, Cliff's punishment was discussed and Mirage had to stay and listen to every detail. Two weeks of after school detention and janitorial duty every Tuesday and Thursday for the rest of the month. He had gotten a 'lighter' sentence because he said that he was 'sorry.'

* * *

The final bell rang and Fayt and the others waited at the front entrance for Mirage and Cliff. They had been in Lasselle's office for a very long time and it was feared that they got into some serious trouble this time. Nel had to call her driver to tell him to pick her and Albel up later as she ignored Albel's complaints about wanting to leave the 'maggot filled school.' Maria paced around in a circle, worried about the outcome, as Sophia paced in the opposite direction. Fayt had to grab Sophia by her shoulders to keep her in place before he got dizzy watching the both of them. 

"NEL!" a young voice screamed. Everyone turned to find Roger running towards them at full speed. Behind him was Peppita, who was slowly shaking her head at his …eagerness to see a girl who obviously didn't like him.

Roger was brimming with happiness, he was almost there! But soon he realized that he was running, but not getting anywhere. He stopped running and glanced behind him to find a boot on his tail, holding him down well. The owner of that boot was currently glaring at something down the street, acting like Roger didn't exist.

"Hey ya moron! Lemme go!" he hollered at Albel as he pulled himself forward to get free.

"With pleasure, maggot," Albel replied as he suddenly lifted his foot, causing Roger to fly forward. Nel sidestepped the Menodix at the last second, leaving him to ram into the bottom step of the concrete stairway. Peppita sighed as she calmly strolled over to Roger's sprawled form and picked him up by the collar of his shirt.

"Still alive?" she asked in a bored tone. There was blood flowing out of his nose and a bruise starting to form on his left cheek next to a couple of small scratches.

"Uh-huh…" he answered.

"Have we learned anything today?"

"Yeah…concrete hurts," he wheezed out before she dropped him.

"…Close enough." She then stood up to face Fayt and Sophia, "Why are you all standing out here?"

"Remember that prank I told you about yesterday?" Sophia started before she earned a nod from the young actress, "Well, it seems that Cliff and Mirage were caught…"

"How awful!" Peppita said sympathetically as Maria ceased her pacing.

"Isn't it?" she cried in a frantic tone, "I feel so bad! Cliff is in there, getting into major trouble and there's nothing I can do about it!"

Fayt stared at her with a contemplating look, "Wow, you really do care about your brother, don't you?"

Maria raised an eyebrow at him before snorting, "Hardly. I'm upset over the fact that he and Mirage got in trouble, making me lose the bet. I could've won 375 Fol!"

"_We_ could have won 375 Fol" Sophia reminded earning a sheepish look from her.

"Oh, that's right. Sorry Sophia… I could've won around 187 Fol!"

During this time, Roger had cleaned his face and stood beside Nel while they watched Maria freak out. His eyes glanced at the calf of her leg, traveled up her thigh, and then rested on her bottom. A lecherous grin appeared on his small face as he raised a hand to touch as well as look. Albel was on the other side of Nel when he noticed the Menodix's intentions. He was about to let it slide and wait for Nel to handle it on her own until Roger looked up at him and stuck his tongue out. Albel clenched his fists as he tried to ignore the twerp, but Roger continued to make faces at him as his hand drifted closer to his goal. Finally, he gave up ignoring and quickly reached out to strangle the brat, but then Roger did something unexpected…

Nel gasped as she felt something brush up against her butt. She whipped around, ready to smack the one responsible, but instead of finding Roger's tiny hand near her behind, she found Albel's. Her eyes widened as she stared at his stunned face before she slapped him hard.

"You pervert! I would expect something like this from Roger, not you!" she screeched as he held the cheek she slapped.

"It wasn't me, woman! It was that insidious brat-" he froze when he saw that Roger was no longer standing where he was pointing. Instead, he was in between Nel's legs trying to look up her shorts. It finally dawned on her on what Albel was trying to say, but before she could apologize to him, she felt something furry under her. She let out a scream as she tried to move away and ended up tripping on Roger's tail before she crashed into Albel's chest. She couldn't regain her balance after that and was about to fall over until Albel caught her with his free arm.

"Hey, get your dirty hands off my woman!" Roger yelled, making the two glare at him. Nel gently pushed away from Albel stormed over to the Menodix to beat the living daylights out of him. Surprisingly, Albel was right behind her, though she had no idea why he would be offended by what the brat had said. Roger let out an unmanly squeal before he ran to hide behind Peppita.

"Do you want me to get rid of him?" Peppita wondered in a monotone voice. Nel paused immediately and held out her arm to stop Albel.

"Would you please?" she begged. Peppita suddenly brightened up as she faced Roger and gave him a big hug.

"Roger? Be a good boy and leave before you die of blood loss," she chirped as he struggled to get away from her.

"Ah! Cooties!" He broke away and ran up to the road, far from the group.

Nel blinked as she turned to Peppita, "…All I needed to do was hug him and he'd go away?"

"Actually, miss," Roger called out with a small blush on his cheeks, "I wouldn't mind it if _you_ hugged me."

"Huh? Hey!" Peppita shouted suddenly, "Why does she get to hug you? What does she have that I don't have?"

She had no clue what possessed her to ask that. She didn't like Roger in the way he liked Nel. She didn't even think of him as a friend. Roger placed his hands behind his back before he shuffled his feet and stared at the ground.

"…She has big honkers for starters…" he mumbled. Peppita looked down at her chest. She didn't exactly have a flat chest, but didn't have much on her because she was still growing. She quickly grew red from anger and stormed over to Roger.

"Of all the nerve! I'm so gonna get you for that, you…you RACCOON!" she cried as she chased the small boy out of Aquios.

Albel's eyes unconsciously drifted over to Nel's breasts when they were mentioned. He hastily diverted his attention elsewhere when she turned to face him, showing off the large red mark that covered half of his face. Nel felt guilty for hitting him so hard and hesitantly reached out to touch his cheek, but he backed away.

"I'm sorry, I jumped to conclusions and thought…" she started as she pulled back.

"…Just leave me alone…," he muttered quietly as he turned his back to her. She knew the only thing she hurt was his ego, but not even damaging his self-image would make him become this reclusive…at least not towards her.

"Cliff! Mirage!" Sophia shouted, catching Nel's attention. She took one last look at Albel before running towards the others to greet them.

"What happened in there?" was the first thing out of Fayt's mouth as the two pranksters slowly descended the stairway.

"I had to confess before Luther's two idiots ratted me out. I took all the blame so Mirage could go free," Cliff explained grimly as Mirage kept her eyes to the ground.

"So only you are in trouble?" Sophia clarified timidly.

Maria cautiously stumbled over to Cliff as she softly voiced his name. She seemed so upset and broken. Cliff was expecting his 'beloved sister' to give him a comforting hug, but instead she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her level.

"Do you know what this means?" she sneered as her features hardened into a ferocious expression.

"Uh…Mom's gonna kill me?" he guessed before she tightened her grip.

"No…It means that _NO ONE WON THE BET_!" Sophia yelped at the tone of her voice and clung to Fayt in fright. Fayt wrapped his arms around her by instinct as he stared at the scene with a surprised façade. Nel was too busy watching Albel out of the corner of her eye to notice Maria's outburst. Mirage finally faced them with the look of curiosity written all over her face.

"Why are you upset over that? It only means that no one looses their money," she said only to regret it when Maria let go of Cliff and turned to her.

"But it also means that I don't _gain_ any money as well! I would have at least gotten 10 Fol from the pot for being the one who started it! " She let out a frustrated growl before turning on her heel to storm off. Fayt had to back away with Sophia still in his arms, fearing that Maria might blow up at them too.

* * *

Cliff sat at the kitchen table with his eyes boring into the sleek wooden surface as Maria went about the area fixing up dinner. A buzzer went off, warning people that the oven was done preheating and was ready to cook. She walked over to the refrigerator to retrieve the casserole that their mother put together last night and carefully placed it in the oven. She then pulled out a bag of mixed vegetables out of the freezer and poured half the bag into some boiling water. Maria wasn't exactly much of a cook, especially compared to Sophia and Nel's skills, but she at least knew her way around the kitchen enough to warm up food or fix small entrées (as long as she had a recipe guide). 

Cliff was busy staring off into space, a talent that only Fayt would use often, as the blue haired girl worked on washing some of the dishes in the sink. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the phone ring, though it didn't really matter if he ever heard it because Maria would always get to it before he could even think about getting up. Maria suddenly approached him and slammed the cordless phone in front of him, effectively pulling him out of his daydream.

"Who-"

"Its mother," she replied coldly, she was still a bit angry at him. He knew that she'll get over her grudge sometime. He had a hunch that that time would happen a year from tomorrow.

He looked at the phone as if it would jump up and attack him before he faced Maria, "Could you tell her I'm in the shower?"

"It would be your funeral," she warned, meaning that she was going to fabricate a few stories to get him into even more trouble if he didn't take the call now. He sighed and then picked up the phone.

"Hey Ma."

_"CLIFFORD MERRIAN FITTIR! I am appalled that you would pull something like that off! I wonder what your father would say if he were home right now… You are grounded for two weeks!"_

He _hated_ his middle name. It was a girl's name, something that would come out of a mind that was doped up on more than just morphine. Actually, Cliff could use some of whatever she had right now, despite the fact that there was really nothing wrong with his mother when he was born. His legal name was Cliff M Fittir because his mother had poor handwriting back then and wrote down what was supposed to be his nickname and middle initial instead of what she intended to name him. But, back to the subject at hand, he just got grounded so that must mean the date was off, right?

"Oh-no Ma, anything but that," he muttered in a cynical voice, "I guess that means that I can't go on that date tonight, huh?"

_"…Don't tell me you've been sitting on you rump all day thinking that you were off the hook? There is no way that you are skipping out of this one, mister! I promised that polite girl's mother that you'd take her out to eat so go take a shower and dress nicely. …Oh, and Cliff dear? YOU BETTER BE OUT OF THE HOUSE BEFORE I GET HOME!"_

He grumbled his goodbyes to his mom before hanging up. She had shouted loud enough to where Maria could hear her across the kitchen. She was leaning against the counter near the corner with a satisfied smile from hearing him get chewed out while keeping an eye on the timer.

"She's going to be home in ten minutes. I'd run if I were you."

Cliff's head shot up to look at the clock after Maria's second warning. She was right, the meeting their mom was at ended 20 minutes ago so he needed to hurry.

"Shit!" he mumbled under his breath before jetting out of the kitchen, knocking down two chairs in the process.

It was close to sunset as Cliff waited in the town square for his date. Maria had told him that that's where the girl would meet him. He watched all the people pass by, including Fayt as he was dragged around by Sophia for an early evening shopping spree. He almost felt bad for the blue haired boy as he stared longingly at the video game shop, but Sophia had a tight grip on his arm and kept pulling him further away from his goal. All of Peterny's street lights came on before Cliff decided to pull out Maria's diary out from his back pocket and continued reading where he left off.

"Cliff?" He slammed the book shut and groaned inwardly as he searched for who ever called him. He soon froze in shock with his mouth hanging open when he found Mirage in a simple white dress and white high heel dress shoes.

"M-Mirage? What are you doing here?" he asked before he started to drool. She cautiously walked over to him and kicked off her shoes, making them hit a random vendor and a dog, before she took a seat next to him and pulled out a pair of sneakers out of her purse.

"My mother set me up on another date," she explained while rolling her eyes as she worked on getting the sneakers on, "She said that she found the right one this time. Said it was somebody from school who's apparently madly in love with me. She wouldn't let me out of the house until I was in a dress this time. By the way, you did not see what I just did to those monstrosities that women call high heels."

"Gotcha," he replied with a grin to cover up the fact that he was getting angry. Great, now there was someone else who had a thing for her. He considered following her and her date for the rest of the night to make sure the guy didn't try to pull anything on her, but then remembered, "Hey, my mom set me up on a date too. Strange coincidence."

Mirage glanced at him wide eyed, before a big smile appeared on her face, "Cliff?"

"Yeah?"

"I not too sure, but I think you're my date." Everything around them seemed to quiet down. Cliff frantically looked around to see if anyone who could be his date was approaching to make sure it wasn't a bad joke.

"Really?"

"I don't know, are you 'madly in love' with me?" she inquired in an amused tone.

"Well I wouldn't go as far as 'madly'. Er-I mean…" he turned away from her with a red face when he realized what he said. Her smile grew wider.

"What I meant to say was…aw forget it. Don't be too hard on me, I couldn't help it! You're beautiful and smart, and we've been through so much together-" he was cut off as Mirage suddenly jumped onto his lap and pulled his head down to hers for a searing, but brief kiss.

"Cliff, you blundering idiot!" she scolded when they broke apart, "That's what I've been trying to tell you earlier during 7th. I feel the same way for you!"

It took him a few seconds for him to recover from the kiss and then register what she just said though his fogged brain. When it all clicked, he let out a large grin before he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her even closer to his body. His lips descended upon hers once more and they lost themselves in a void where only they exist. Cliff slowly trailed his hand across her cheek and then rested at her jaw where he gently pried open her mouth so he could let his tongue dance with hers.

"Hmm…that's right…now trail your other hand down her thigh and slip under the dress," a male voice whispered nearby. The couple froze before they pulled apart and searched for the owner of the voice.

"Shh! They heard us!" a female voice hissed in the bushes nearby. Mirage blushed slightly as she moved out of Cliff's lap.

"We know you're there, show yourselves!" she demanded while she nervously straightened her dress. The bushes rustled as Sophia sheepishly came out while hiding a video camera behind her back followed by Fayt as he clutched his new video game like a mother does to her child.

"Uh…hi?" Fayt said timidly as Mirage shook her head.

"Oh, before I forget…" Sophia started before she hit Fayt upside his head, "Pervert!"

"Okay you have two choices," Cliff replied as he crossed his arms, "Leave the camera here and run for your dear lives before we beat you up or face a nasty surprise when you come to school on Monday."

"Alright! Here," Sophia grumbled as she handed the camera to Mirage.

"…But that's my camera…" Fayt whined.

"You should have thought of that before you opened you big, fat, dirty mouth and got us caught!" Sophia sneered as she tugged on his arm.

"Don't worry, I'll return it Monday," Mirage reassured as the two started to run away.

"Oh, I just remembered! Maria wants to borrow that game you just finished," Cliff called out to their retreating forms. Fayt waved to him, signaling that he got the message before he was out of sight.

"Maria plays games?" Mirage wondered curiously before Cliff pulled out the diary again.

"No, she just wants to get Fayt to notice her because she likes him, see its right here in her diary," he explained as he pointed to the correct page.

"I have a feeling that this was all setup by Maria," she speculated as she flipped through the small book, "My mother did say that she received a tip from one of my friends…"

"I should have known. We need to get back at her."

"But don't we owe her? After all, she did save us from a whole bunch of uncomfortable tension."

"Good point," he said as he wrapped his arm around her waist again, "So then let's make her pay first and then we'll do something good for her, like give her some cash or something."

"Sounds like a plan," she smirked before she leaned her head against his shoulder. Cliff chuckled slightly before he remembered that he was supposed to take her out to dinner.

"So where do you want to go eat?"

"I don't care," she responded softly, "But could we stay like this for a while longer? It's kinda…pleasant."

"Yeah…it is," he agreed as they simply sat there, gazing at the stars.

* * *

(is playing around with her Albel plushie by making it dance)…I think I'll get a Nel plushie so my Albel plushie won't be lonely when I'm away…Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I have another Alnel one-shot in the works and if I play my cards right, it could be 'clean' enough for as an M rated fic. But on the down side, if I work on it, it will take me longer to update this fic, I guess we'll all have wait and see what the out come is. Well, C ya next chapter! 


	8. Zelpher and Nox: Master Spies?

I'm so happy! (Puts one of her new Nel plushies in the arms of the life-sized Albel plushie before she hugs her other Albel and Nel plushies) Thanks goes to lil-creator and NelZelpher88 for the Nel plushies and to Echoa for the life-sized Albel plushie! As a treat to everyone, this is a very long chapter mostly involving Albel and Nel with only one scene without them. Oh, and Somnion, to get a profile picture, you need to pay for extra services (which is like $5 for a month, I think) and then you can upload a picture from your computer.

Disclaimer: Sorceress Myst does not own (insert a game that starts with 'S'), any of its characters, or (insert nearly everyone's favorite character from chosen game).

Chapter 8

Cold weather finally arrived overnight, but thankfully Nel was snuggled deep in her many layers of blankets as she slept peacefully. It was Saturday morning which meant no school and no reason to be up at the crack of dawn. She was planning to sleep in until at least 10:30, but unfortunately someone else had other plans. She didn't stir from her sleep as an intruder kicked open her door and strolled over to her bed. Using the light from the hallway, the figure found the light switch to her lamp and turned it on before sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Hey…wake up," a masculine voice whispered as he gently poked her cheek, earning a moan from her.

"Hn? …What?" Nel slurred as she opened eyes. There was a dark blurry image towering over her face and when her eyes adjusted, the image revealed two red eyes. She nearly jumped out of her skin in shock. What was Albel doing in her room at…she quickly checked her digital clock…at _six in the morning_? Wasn't it just yesterday that he refused to acknowledge her existence as he avoided her for the rest of the night? Why was he bothering her _now_?

More memories of yesterday came to her mind; he was forced to be nice to her all day yesterday. He must be here to extract his vengeance on her for all the humiliation. It was too early to be tortured! She glared at him before grabbing her covers and pulled them over her head.

"Go away…" Her voice was muffled, but he seemed to get the message as she felt the bed shift when he got up. Feeling slightly victorious, she grinned before trying to fall back into a deep slumber. Suddenly, Albel yanked all the blankets off of her bed, leaving her thin satin nightgown to protect her body from the cold. She curled up from the blast of freezing air before sitting up to yell at him. But before she could open her mouth, she found herself pinned down to the bed as his hand clamped over her mouth. Because he had to pounce on top of her to quickly silence her, some of her nightgown rode up half-way up her thighs. What was worse, she noticed that he was shirtless and was only wearing black drawstring pants. She hoped that none of the servants would suddenly walk by to see them in such a compromising position.

"Don't scream," he warned as he slowly removed his hand, "Guess who's back."

She took a deep breath as he climbed off of her before she stared at him quizzically. He didn't bother to wait for a response as he grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of her bed and room. She swallowed her surprised cry as she tried to regain her footing before she fell to the floor. He continued to pull her along with him down the stairs, past the parlor, and up to her father's study. It was dark where they were, but a light could be seen under the door, meaning that there was someone in there.

"Man that was a pain!" Glou said behind the door, followed by Nevelle's voice.

"But we got them," he replied in a relieved voice. Their fathers were back from wherever they went. What was it that they were talking about? It was so dark, that Nel could barely see Albel, but she was glad for that because it was still cold and her nightgown was too thin to hide the fact that her breasts were cold too.

"…So, what do we do now?" Glou inquired in a bored tone that matched Albel's. Footsteps were heard walking away from the door before one of the men sighed.

"I guess we should move on to the next step and-"

"Hang on…There's something nagging at me in the back of my mind and it's telling me that my son is up to something…" More footsteps were coming towards the door as Nel panicked and pushed Albel up against the wall next to the door before she flattened herself against his body. The door was swung open and the doorknob lightly hit Nel in her lower back. Her head was pressed against his chest, allowing her to hear Albel's heartbeat quicken as Glou stepped out to check the surroundings.

"That's funny, I could have sworn they'd be out here…" he commented as he walked back in, shutting the door behind him. The teens let out a sigh of relief before they realized that they were holding on each other, but didn't move apart as quickly as they should have.

"I don't know. If Nel is involved then maybe they _are_ out there. Let's talk about something else for now," Nevelle suggested.

Whatever the dads were talking about now didn't matter as Nel looked up at Albel's silhouette with a blush. All she had to do was lift her chin slightly and her lips would brush against his. She had a battle with her conscious, but that ended abruptly when he softly muttered, "Damn it" and frantically pushed her away from him before he stiffly walked back towards his room. With nothing left to do, she followed him.

Once they were back in the lighted hallway, she tried block his way as she asked, "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," he hissed between his teeth as he sidestepped her and resumed walking. His black blonde hair covered his eyes and there was a light shade of red on his cheeks. She couldn't believe that he was angry that they almost got caught. Both of their fathers were sneaky so it shouldn't have been much of a surprise or a big deal. When they reached the door to her bedroom, he stopped, but didn't face her.

"I have an idea on how we can get the information we want, but we'll have to wait till later. Go back to sleep," he ordered in a rough voice before he strolled past his room, went into the bathroom, and nearly slammed the door behind him. What was his problem? A yawn escaped her mouth before she could go check up on him. She decided to listen to him for once and go back to bed. She learned from experience that meddling in Albel's problems could cost both her mental stability and her happiness.

* * *

Three hours later, the two teens were dressed for the day and started their usual Saturday schedule. Or at least tried to… 

"Give it back, woman!" Albel growled as fought Nel for the remote. They were sitting on the large couch in the parlor, trying to watch T.V. together, but alas there was a disagreement on what to watch.

"Get lost! I was here first!" she yelled as she held the small device away from his reach. He leaned on top of her slightly and took advantage of the fact that his arms were longer than hers. Once he got his prize he pushed her away and changed the channel. Nel let out a war cry before she tackled him down on the cushions and then scrambled for the fallen remote. He soon had her in a half-nelson before she could reach her station.

"Let go!" she shouted as she squirmed from underneath him.

"So we can watch those childish cartoons? In your dreams!"

"It's Anime and it's better than watching porno!"

"It's not porno! It's MTV!" he sneered. She had somehow managed to break free from his grasp and had him face down on the sofa while she straddled him on his back.

"Well I don't like heavy metal music!" she argued as she tried to reach for the slender channel changer.

"My ass! You own five CDs and two of them are mine!"

"_One_ of them is yours, I own ten, and I've been over that kind of music for years!"

"Oh? So tell me what song you were humming in the shower earlier?" He twisted beneath her so that she was now straddling his waist and tried to take the remote from her hand.

She blushed before retorting with, "Why were you trying to listen to me while I'm in the shower?"

"Because I had to pee and you were hogging the bathroom!" he responded with a blush of his own. Now they were both sitting up, but Nel was still straddling him, as they played tug-of-war with the device. Glou and Nevelle watched them from the archway that connected the dinning room to the parlor.

"Isn't that just adorable?" Nevelle commented with a sly smile in Glou's direction.

"Yep, and there's nothing like starting your Saturdays with a strenuous smack down before noon," he replied. The fighting stopped for a brief moment as two heads peered over the back of the couch to glare at their fathers. They soon remembered what they were fighting over and continued their squabble. The men chuckled as they enjoyed the show from a safe distance.

"AH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Nel screamed, bringing concerned expressions to their faces before they rushed over to see what happened. Albel was now behind her, pinning her arms behind her back. She looked frightened as well as embarrassed before Nevelle sighed in relief that his daughter wasn't being brutally maimed.

"Alright you two, if you can't decide on a channel to watch, then you should go to your rooms and watch T.V. separately," he ordered as they broke away from each other and scowled like reprimanded children.

"Yeah, off to your rooms," Glou joined, "And Albel, don't come back out until you have a nice long apology for Nel…or until your mother and Sonya return from the mall 'cause that's when we're going home."

They slowly began to march to their rooms while throwing dirty glances at each other. Once they were out of sight, Nevelle grinned as he faced Glou.

"Good timing! The monster movie marathon is about to start in five minutes," he said before he jumped over the back of the couch to sit down on it.

Glou got excited and followed suit, "You mean the one we've been waiting a week for? Finally!"

Nel and Albel approached their rooms and looked at each other as their frowns turned into evil smirks. At the same time, they opened their doors and then slammed them shut, making it sound like they stormed into their rooms. They waited in silence until they heard screeching monsters from the surround sound speakers of the big screen television before they cautiously made their way to the edge of the stairway. Nevelle and Glou fell for their act and now they were distracted by a movie marathon. One would think that purposely starting an argument wouldn't be easy, but for Albel and Nel, it was too easy to get into a fight with each other because they knew what would make the other tick.

Being as quiet and as careful as possible, they both plastered themselves against the wall as they descended down to the parlor and then crawled on the carpeted floor behind the couch to the other end of the room. With Nel in the lead, they cautiously stood up when they were behind the wall next to the opening and made their way back to Nevelle's study. Albel kept watch as Nel pulled out her makeshift lock pick, made from a paperclip, and unlocked the door. Once they were inside, Nel locked the door again before they both sighed. The study room was a small room with a round table in the center and a large bookshelf lining the back wall. One of side of the room had a collection of swords, daggers, and shurikens on display shelves while the other side contained a small closet with a long red cloth covering the opening.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but that was a clever plan to get in trouble on purpose," Nel complimented as they stepped away from the door.

Albel examined the room with a small grin before saying, "Yeah? Well, I hate to admit it, but I couldn't have done it without you."

Nel blushed as he began searching for anything that could reveal what Glou and Nevelle were up to. But before she could start searching as well, her mind wandered to the fight they had moments ago, "Albel?"

"Hmm?" He was lifting the red curtain to peer inside the closet.

"Did you really have to bite me in the neck back there?" That was what caused her to scream earlier. When he was grabbing her like a cop trying to handcuff a crook, that last thing she expected was to feel his teeth at the base of her neck. Albel dropped the fabric and made sure not to look at her.

"…I had to get you to scream somehow. They were watching us like some cheap entertainment until they thought I was hurting you," he explained gruffly. Her face turned a deeper shade of red as she brought her hand to rub the spot where he had bitten her.

When he dared to glance at her, he rolled his eyes at her, "Oh, come on, woman! I didn't bite you that hard."

"Stupid vampire…" she muttered as she approached the map that was on the table. They were now separated by the table. Albel let out an evil grin as he crossed his arms.

"The message _did_ say that you were the next victim," he replied as he tried to walk around the table towards her only to have her move further away from him, "…Hey, I was only joking."

"…" She made sure to keep backing away from him as she studied the map.

"You know I'm not a vampire, your father made it up! …Bah, fine! Don't talk to me then…"

"…Look at this," she finally said while pointing to an area marked on the map. It was northeast of the Shrine of Kaddan and very close to the borderline between Aquaria and Greeton. It wasn't the area where the new resort was located. In fact, it looked like it was in the mountain range.

"I wonder…if this is where they went," he wondered as he glanced at the map.

"…But then that would mean that they really went to the Shrine of Kaddan. Unless there is shelter over there, then the shrine is the only place where they could stay."

"It looks like an unexplored area, so I doubt there's any form of shelter there. But why would Nevelle say 'hotel' on the phone?"

"I wish I knew…" She looked up at Albel and noticed something behind him, leaning against the closet. There was a bright colored box with ribbons underneath an object that was covered in a black velvet bag. She knew that the box was for her birthday, which was coming up in two weeks, but whatever was on top of it was new.

"What the…" she muttered as she headed over towards where Albel was standing. He soon turned his head to see what she was staring at.

"Ah, I see," he said as he held out his hand to grab the object, "This must be what they retrieved from their trip."

But before he could touch the velvet surface, the door handle jiggled as someone started unlocking it.

"Be right back Glou, I forgot to put something up," Nevelle called from behind the door. Nel and Albel stared at the door in shock before Nel pointed to the closet. Albel nodded and hid himself behind the red curtain while she crawled under the table and hugged her knees to her chest. Nevelle came in and approached the table to roll up the map. He then walked back to the bookshelf to put it up before heading over to the side of the closet where the object was. Clanging metal was heard as he picked up the bag and moved closer to the closet. Nel bit her lip in worry that he was going find Albel in there.

Suddenly, Nevelle bent over to look under the table so he could greet her, "Aren't you going to at least come out and say 'hello' to your father? It's very rude not to."

Nel's head shot up in shock and connected with the bottom of the table in an audible thump. He chuckled as she winced and held her head.

"Careful sweetie, serves you right for sneaking around in here." She crawled out from under the table and stood between her father and Albel's hiding place.

"Sorry daddy, I was only looking at your map."

"Ah, did you find anything?" he asked as he lifted the bag and shouldered it. Her father never lied to her when she asked questions, but after the note he wrote about going to the Shrine of Kaddan, she wasn't too sure anymore. But it still wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Yes, I did. A place that was marked northeast of the Shrine of Kaddan. What is that place?"

"It's a spot of land that's been fought over between Aquaria and Greeton for many years. I've heard rumors that a major company from Airyglyph is going to buy the land and turn it into a ski resort."

"Did you go there?"

"I told you we went to the Shrine of Kaddan," he answered immediately. Albel was right, he _was_ making it sound obvious that they were hiding something.

"But when you called yesterday, it sounded like…"

"Are you saying that you don't believe me?" he asked in a faintly hurtful tone.

"With Glou involved, yes," she replied honestly, earning a chuckle from him.

"Well, you got me there. Glou can be pretty creepy when it comes to his 'surprises' and his secrets, but for now, you'll just have to believe me when I said that we went to the shrine. By the way, you can come out of there now, Albel."

Oh he's good. There was still no getting past the veteran spy with his keen senses. Nel tried to hide her surprised look before Albel slowly pushed the curtain out of his way and stepped out of the closet.

"Now, what should I do about the two of you? You both had just committed your fourth offense and have yet to receive any punishment," Nevelle started before Glou appeared at the door

"Hey Nevelle! The commercial's came on, let's go raid the fridge before the movie starts…" Glou stopped when he noticed Albel and then leaned against the door frame, "Well, well, seeing you out of your room must mean you have your apology for Nel ready."

Albel's eyes widened as he faced his father, "But I-"

"I know," he interrupted with a sinister glare that Albel inherited from him, "…You never went to your room. But if you apologize now, then both of you will be free of the punishment you've earned."

"…Nel, I'm sorry…" he mumbled almost inaudibly.

"You can do better than that and try it a bit louder this time," Glou coaxed before Albel groaned in annoyance.

"…I'm sorry for fighting you for the blasted remote and biting you in the neck," he grated out though clenched teeth. Both dads blinked at the last thing he had said before deciding not to ask about it.

Nevelle shrugged as he turned to Glou, "I think that's the best we're going to get out of him."

"I think you're right," he sighed and glanced at his son, "Alright then, give her a kiss and be on your way."

"No," was his immediate response. Nel had been snickering at Albel until she heard what Glou ordered and then started to blush.

"Well, you didn't sound that sincere so it wouldn't kill you to prove you're sorry with a small kiss on her hand or cheek," he urged, but Albel refused, "…Huh, I just remembered, we haven't visited Woltar for a long while…"

Albel quickly seized Nel's hand to pull her closer and brushed his lips across her cheek in response. Glou and Nevelle had satisfied smirks on their faces as they allowed them to leave. But after no more than five steps out of the room, Albel pushed her roughly into the wall.

"What was that for?" she snapped before she pushed him back.

"For being a slow-witted ignoramus! This is your fault!" he yelled as Nevelle slowly shook his head and placed a hand against his forehead.

"_My_ fault? This was all _your_ idea, cretin!"

Glou rolled his crimson eyes as he walked past them. Nevelle was obviously too tired to take care of this fight so it was up to him. Suddenly, he noticed that the movie came back on, but Albel and Nel's shouting drowned out the sound. He needed to get them to stop so he could enjoy his monster movie in peace. But it would take at least 15 minutes to pull those two away from their 'lover's spat' and it was getting close to his favorite scene. They would surely kill each other this time if he didn't get between them soon …But this was his most favorite movie, he used to watch it all the time when he was Albel's age. Glou's gaze constantly switched from the movie to the teens. Movie. Kids. Movie. Kids. Movie that's seen once every October. Kids who can make the last war between Airyglyph and Aquaria seem like a tea party…

"ENOUGH!" he shouted, making the two freeze in place with both their hands ready to strangle the other. Before anyone could say anything, Glou grabbed Nel by her upper arm and Albel by his ear and dragged them to the front door where he shoved them outside. He then pulled a medium sized sum of Fol out of his pocket and forced it into Albel's hand, "Go treat yourselves to some ice cream or something and don't come back until 6:00."

Glou immediately ran back inside to catch his movie as Nevelle came to the door. Nel and Albel only glanced at each other in confusion.

"Yeah, what he said, but be sure to stay in Aquios," Nevelle added, "Don't bother trying to sneak back in, the security cameras are running and I'll have Reeves check up on you every now and then to make sure you're behaving properly."

The front door slammed shut and was locked from the inside. Albel stared at the money in his hand before he sighed and ran his free hand through his two toned hair. At least the weather warmed up, making it feel like a spring day. It wasn't like they were kicked out at the worst possible time, but the fact that they were kicked out instead of being locked into their rooms was strange. Nel wearily faced him with her hands on her hips. She knew the last fight was a fake because he had a half grin on his face, when he first pushed her.

"Was this apart of your plan?" she asked once his eyes traveled to her.

"No, I was hoping for a different response from them… So want to go get something?" he inquired in a defeated tone. She blinked at him in response. Did he just offer to take her somewhere, as in a date? No…not a date, this is Albel. But still, he offered her something with out being forced to, it wasn't like him to do that.

"Really?" she asked skeptically as she crossed her arms. He couldn't possibly be playing a joke on her.

He shrugged before he replied, "Might as well. There's nothing left to do here."

"Okay then, as long as you don't start another argument…" she responded as they began walking together.

"We've been fighting all day," he said as he shook his head, "I'm willing to call a temporary truce under one condition."

"Yeah, and what's that?"

"I don't want hear a single word about those maggots from school, especially not about who they're sleeping with or whatever."

She let out a small chuckle, "Okay not a word…"

It wasn't long before the two were sitting at a bench in a park eating ice cream. True to his word, Albel didn't start another argument, but he ended up not saying anything at all. Nel didn't mind the silence because she was used to him being quiet. He did make and effort not to glare at anyone, so that counted as something nice on his part.

"Hey guys! What are you doing here?" a familiar voice called out. Nel glanced over to the fountain to find Sophia walking towards them. There was no camera with her, so she couldn't have been trying to spy on them.

"We were kicked out of the house," she explained once the brunette reached them.

Sophia blinked once before she pouted, "So you're not on a date?"

"NO!" the two shouted in unison as they glared at her.

"Alright, alright!" she muttered as she held her hands out in defense, "No need to get all upset…"

"What are you doing here? Aren't you usually with Fayt on the weekends?" Nel wondered before she made room for her on the bench.

"Well, he said he had plans today…And he promised me that it had nothing to do with him playing video games," Sophia said as she sat down beside Nel.

"Really? What plans would that be?" Nel inquired with wide eyes. Fayt had said that he was going to play video games all weekend. Usually nothing could take him away from that.

"I have no clue…"

* * *

Cliff's mother decided to give him a chance to redeem himself by cleaning the whole house while she was away. Maria was currently asleep in her bed as he worked on sweeping the floor. He managed to sneak Maria's headset out of her room earlier and called Mirage. 

"I dunno, should we leave Fayt a surprise on the camera? He didn't do anything for us…" he said as he swept some dirt under the carpet. He listened to her for a few minutes before replying with, "…Oh, yeah. He didn't rat us out, did he? Well, I guess you can give me the camera and I'll put it the shower so it'll record Maria in the nude. He's sure to like that."

He was now dusting the tables and cabinets before he flinched from Mirage's angry voice, "What do ya mean that he would end up liking her for the wrong reason? I've seen you naked dozens of times and I still…"

He stopped mid-sentence when he remembered that Mirage wasn't supposed know about his former late night excursions to her bedroom window, "……I love you Mirage."

There was an uncomfortable silence on the line and he wondered if he should hang up on her and lock the doors before she stormed over to beat him up. Suddenly there was a knock on the front door. It couldn't be Mirage already.

_"Cliff…Just this once, I'm going to ignore what you just said. But if I hear that again, you're going to wish you dropped out of 5th period,"_ She finally responded on the headset, bringing a sigh of relief to him.

"Uh, yes ma'am. I'll leave the surprise up to you then, okay? There's someone at the door so I'll call you later, bye." Cliff pulled off the headset and ran over to the door only to be greeted by everyone's favorite (and only) blue haired boy, Fayt.

"Hey, Cliff! Is Maria up yet?"

"Oh, hi! No she's sleeping in today," he answered cheerfully before he closed the door on Fayt. He was about to walk away, until he heard another knock on the door. Fayt was still out there when he reopened the door, but this time he held out a game titled 'Xenosaga'.

"I brought the game you said she wanted to borrow," Fayt added with a small grin. Cliff grabbed the game from his hand.

"Great! I'll be sure to give it to her," he replied as he shut the door on him again. Once again there was a knock.

"Can I come in?" Fayt finally asked when Cliff opened the door again.

He suddenly brightened up and shouted, "Sure! Why didn't you ask in the first place?"

"Maria! Guests!" Cliff called once Fayt was inside. There was no response from upstairs meaning that she was still deep asleep or she was ignoring him. Fayt glanced around the unusually clean living room as Cliff pulled off a sneaker.

"I would just send you up there to wake her yourself," Cliff explained as he climbed onto the back of the sofa, "But I'm trying to get on good terms with her so I'll just have to resort to this!"

The back of the sofa gave him enough height to throw his shoe directly at Maria's bedroom door, resulting in a loud bang. Almost immediately, the door opened and revealed a head of long, messy blue hair. A hand soon came out to push the hair out of the way so the startled Maria could see what caused the noise. Once she saw Cliff's sneaker, she picked it up and ran to the railing overlooking the living room and chucked the footwear at its owner. It nailed Cliff in the head and he fell over off the couch before Fayt prodded him with his feet to see if he was still alive. When Fayt finally looked up at Maria, he noticed that she was wearing nothing but a large T-shirt. Maria soon realized that there was another person in the room besides Cliff and stared at Fayt with a blank look on her face. What was Fayt doing at her house?

It wasn't long before her mind reeled. Fayt, her crush, was in her house and she was barely dressed in her makeshift night clothes (since her old pair of pajamas was 'accidentally' mailed to someone in the Sanmite Republic by a certain troublemaking brother, whose name shall not be mentioned). She nearly squeaked as she ran back into her room to change. Cliff groaned as he got up and rubbed his nose.

"Yeah, she'll be down in three minutes…" Fayt didn't hear what Cliff had mumbled as he continued to stare wide-eyed at the spot Maria had been standing. Cliff waved his hand in front of Fayt's face and still received no response from him. After checking for any witnesses, he quietly walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out one of Mirage's signs that said 'Spank me, I've been a naughty boy' on it and pulled Fayt out of his stupor by hitting him on his lower back so the tape dangled the sign over Fayt's butt.

"What was that for?" Fayt asked irritably, not noticing the sign, as Cliff grinned.

"Believe me, you'll thank me for it later."

Fayt only raised an eyebrow at him before Maria came back out wearing jeans and a white shirt and ran down the stairs, "Hey Fayt, why are you here?"

"I came by to drop off the game you wanted to borrow and I thought I'd stick around a little while to help you out in case you have any problems or questions about the game," he explained as he picked up the video game case that was left on the sofa.

"What? I didn't…" Maria cut off when she saw her brother standing behind Fayt holding her diary up in one hand while the other hand gave her the thumbs up. She clenched her teeth and sent a death glare towards Cliff as she responded with, "Oh that's right. Thank you Fayt, you are a true friend. Let's go to my room and start up the game…"

Fayt, knowing that the angry look was directed towards Cliff, began to think that Cliff was doing something wrong behind his back and quickly turned to find him gazing at the other side of the room with his hands behind his back. He blinked once before he left Cliff and started climbing the stairs, giving Maria a good view of his new message. She sent another glare in Cliff's direction before she stormed over to rip the sign off. Fayt's eyes widened as he faced her with a wide grin.

"Maria! I didn't know you were like that-"

"H-he planted a bad sign on you," she said quickly with a blush as she held up the crumpled paper.

"Yeah, that's all fine and dandy but I have to clean up around here, so get going!" Cliff hastily pushed them upstairs with the bristly end of a broom to save himself from their heated glares. Since they couldn't reach him while he was armed with the broom stick, they decided to let it drop and continued upstairs to Maria's room. Once they were out of sight, Cliff let out a sigh of relief and rushed over to the headset to call Mirage again, but then someone started knocking on the front door.

"Hi Cliff! Is Maria here?" Lieber inquired with a hopeful glance when he answered the door.

"Yup," he replied before closing the door in Lieber's face.

* * *

"So how did you both get kicked out?" Sophia wondered as Nel finished her ice cream and tossed the napkin into the nearby trashcan. 

"Well, we tried to eavesdrop on our fathers, started a fight over the remote…," she listed as she counted them off on her fingers.

"Don't forget the food fight we had before that," Albel added as he crushed what little ice cream cone he had left in his hand. "Oh yeah, we started a food fight during breakfast before the remote fight, we snuck in to my father's study, and then we tried to murder each other until Albel's dad had enough an threw us out so he could watch his dumb monster movie."

Sophia's jaw hung open slightly as she stared at them. Who knew they could be so violent with each other. Of course, she didn't know that Nel didn't tell her the whole story so she really thought that the two really did nothing but fight with each other. But soon she started to have a sneaking suspicion that there was more to it than a few fights in the house, "Are you guys lying to me?"

"Why would we lie, fool? We're out here aren't we?" Albel snapped.

"No, I mean about you two out on a date," she persisted, "For someone who spent the entire morning fighting with the other, you are both sitting really close to each other and you haven't started an argument for the past twenty minutes that I had been watching you- er, I mean, since I got here."

Albel and Nel glanced at each other, finally realizing that they _were_ sitting really close to each other before they both stood up and moved away from each other.

"It's not what you think," Nel explained hurriedly, "We are going through a temporary truce today."

"And just how far does this 'truce' go?" she asked with a sly grin as she stood up as well.

"As far as joining forces to make sure that no one sees so much as a hair on your body if you don't find something else to talk about, fruit." That made Sophia whimper in fear as she cowered behind Nel. Nel giggled at his new insult.

"Isn't that cute? He has a special nickname for you, Sophia. Maybe he likes you." Her grin got bigger when Albel made a disgusted face at the idea, "…or maybe not."

"I get it, you're upset that I stopped calling you names, is that it? Then I'll refer to you as 'cerise' from now on."

It was French for 'cherry'. Nel gave him a wary expression while Sophia looked confused. Did he just insult her? Are they going to fight again?

"So now you're calling me a fruit?"

"No, it's the same color of your hair and you said you hated it when I speak in French so it's the perfect name to piss you off with," he replied as she became angrier. If he kept calling her that, then it _would_ make her frustrated. It's a good thing he didn't know the real reason why she hated him saying French words.

"You are such a…maggot," she sneered, not caring that it was one of his words.

"Name calling again, cerise? You're about to turn 18 in two weeks and yet you're still acting like a child…" he smirked, earning a death glare from her.

"And what about you? You're not turning 18 for another two _months_ and yet _you_ throw temper tantrums as well calling everyone around you names!" A short, high pitched giggle sounded from behind Nel before they turned to find Sophia clamping her hand to her lips.

"Sorry, continue," she replied sheepishly. Nel sighed as she calmed down. So much for the truce they were supposed to be observing.

"Lady Nel? My, it has been long time," a smooth male voice said up ahead of them. It was a teenage boy with short, reddish blonde hair and light blue eyes. Once he was close enough he gently took Nel's hand and gave it a light kiss. Soon two other boys showed up and ran to stand behind the newcomer. Nel pulled her hand away as she tried to think of who he was.

"Oh, yes, it has been a very long time…uh." The boy's name still wouldn't come to her.

"_Luther,_" Sophia whispered in her ear.

"Luther! That's it! I mean, it's a pleasure to see you again. I hardly recognized you, you changed so much," she recovered before she thought she heard a faint growl from Albel. She glanced over at him to find that he was glaring at Luther, but that was nothing new. She must've just imagined it.

"Lord Albel Nox, I presume? Your reputation from your many victories in the swordsmanship competitions in Airyglyph precedes you," Luther greeted as he held out his hand to Albel.

Albel only stared until Nel elbowed him while muttering, "Can't you be courteous for at least a minute?"

"Hmph," he snorted as he crossed his arms and looked away. Luther dropped his hand.

"Well, now that you have moved to Aquaria, I assume you and Lady Nel are going to compete in the I.S.F.T. this year?"

The International Sword Fighting Tournament was a competition in which pairs of people ages 13+ compete with other teams from around the world for the championship title. The thought never occurred to either Nel or Albel, but they were sure Tynave wouldn't let them pass up a chance like that and would have them signed up to represent the school. But, there was a catch if they should team up for the I.S.F.T.- it would require a lot of teamwork and they would have to be able to fight as one if they wanted to get far in the competition.

"I suppose so. Well, at least Miss Tynave will be pressuring us to join soon," Nel eventually answered after a brief silence. Luther nodded before he faced Sophia.

"Miss Sophia, you seem to be faring well. How is Fayt?"

"We're both doing fine, but we're both disappointed that you have returned from alternative school," she muttered with a slightly miffed look on her face. He chuckled at her before turning away.

"Oh yes, the…incident. I am truly sorry for what happened. Fayt just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Luther was the biggest bully in school and had led many illegal rings. It all started with a monopoly on candy in elementary school and moved up to trading cards and fake hall passes and finally to up to a variety of things like stolen homework, jewelry, drugs, and alcohol. The 'incident' occurred when a group of students were behind in their payments to Luther and Berial and Belzeber had to go 'remind' them to pay. Fayt happened to be nearby and was beaten up with the other students by mistake.

"If it would make you feel better, I'll have my men each write an apology for poor Fayt right now. Well? What are you waiting for boys? Get to it!" he ordered.

"But Luther…" Berial started to say with a reluctant face.

"What? Do you want me to help you spell your names?" he retorted in an agitated tone, making the two flinch.

"No…we don't have a pen or paper with us right now," Belzeber finished before Luther sighed.

"Then run home and get some. Do I have wipe your noses every time you sneeze?" he watched as they finally ran off to do his bidding, "Good help is so hard to find these days. Intelligent help is even rarer."

"Luther, even an apology won't fix what you did to Fayt …They broke his expensive handheld game thingy," Sophia said after he faced her again.

"In that case, just tell me the amount and I will pay him back with a little interest," he replied, bringing a skeptical look on her face.

"Really?" When it came to Luther, it was almost like making a deal with Romero so everyone had to be cautious of what he offered.

"Really," he responded, "I don't want anymore misgivings between us and your friends, especially not with Maria, so please accept my generosity as a token of my sincerest apology."

Where did Maria fit in all of this? She wasn't involved when Fayt was beaten up, but then again, nether was Sophia. One would think that Maria would be on his blacklist just for being Cliff's sister.

"…And what about Cliff and Mirage? Are you going to forgive and forget what happened last year?" Nel queried as a few clouds rolled in front of the sun and made everything darker. Luther's kind façade shifted into a menacing look as his eyes hardened into a ferocious glare.

"Those two can go to the deepest level of hell for all I care. I'd give an arm and a leg if there was some way to get them into so much trouble that they'd have to repeat the 12th grade for five years."

Sophia was shaking uncontrollably, but still managed to keep a furious look as Nel felt the hairs in the back of her neck rise. Albel only looked on with an amused expression, clearly enjoying the scene before him. As soon as the clouds moved on and the sun shone once again, his face retuned to the previous appearance as if nothing happened at all.

"Luther, there you are!" a feminine voice scolded. He turned to find his older sister behind him.

"What do you need, Blair?" he asked softly while she placed a hand over her chest as she tried to catch her breath.

"We need to go home soon. I want to spend a little quality time with you before I have leave for work," she replied.

"Yes, of course, one second," he said before facing the others again and bowed, "Please pardon me, I must be on my way. Take care and have a good weekend."

"That was…really creepy," Sophia commented once he was gone.

"I know. Who knew someone can hold that deep a grudge?" Nel added as Sophia checked her watch.

"…It's getting late, I'd better return to Peterny. I guess I should call Mirage tonight to warn her about Luther. She is going to need a lot of help to keep Cliff from getting into a fight with him. It'll be worse this time now that he's 18," she said as she slowly began heading down the path towards the park entrance.

"Okay, bye Sophia. Drive safe."

Nel then checked her watch and found that it was still a long way from 6:00, "So what now? There's still four hours left before we can return."

"Your father didn't say that we couldn't sneak into my house and see if my dad left anything suspicious," he suggested.

"That's true, I guess we could go check it…huh?" she turned to find him already walking away.

"Why are you still standing there? Get moving, cerise," he replied without looking back.

"…Don't call me that…worm."

"Name calling is very mature of you..."

"Shut up, maggot." Talking like him was getting rather addictive.

* * *

Yea! Another chapter done! And there is more good news! I have my new one-shot, 'An Eye for Crimson' posted, but I must warn you that there is a little bit of lemon in it. Hopefully it isn't too 'dirty' for this site…well I'll have to wait and see. Also, I have a challenge for any author who loves Alnel up in my author profile, go check it out if you're interested. Well, I'm off to do…stuff…I guess… (hugs all her plushies during an awkward silence)…C ya! 


	9. The True Bad Boy of Aquios High

Well, it's that time of the year again. School. Evil, evil school. But on the bright side, I'm in college now and I only have 13 hours this semester so I _should_ have some free time to work on this and my other fics. Anyway, in the first chapter, I did mention that I was going to try a few different things and one of them was to make Albel younger than Nel so he's 17 (it's going to help out for a few taunts after Nel's 18th birthday). As for Sophia being annoying…eh, I'm sorry? I actually kinda based some of her personality off of me (as a fan girl who wants to see Albel and Nel together) and I was hoping to give her a slightly better role so even the Sophia bashers would like her a little better (I'm not going for 'love', I'd have to be a miracle worker to do that!), but it seems that's not working out is it? Of course Sophia's character and the fact that I like her doesn't exactly mean that she's getting Fayt, you guys still have to wait to see the outcome of that. Who knows maybe the lucky girl _isn't_ Maria or Sophia. Muahahahahahahaha! Now before I let you guys go and read to your heart's content, I need to thank Darkladyxion959 for helping me get re-motivated to update this fic. If she hadn't answered my e-mail, I probably wouldn't have updated for another two months so WORSHIP HER! And now without further ado…

Chapter 9

"…so Gonnella wanted to sell it for a bunch of money, but papa hit him upside the head and told him that it belonged to Ursus because he was the one who found it. After that, Ursus ended up giving it to me since the locket's chain is too small to fit around his neck," Peppita finished as she held up the beautiful piece of silver jewelry for Sophia to see.

"Wow, it's so pretty! The rhinestones match your eyes," Sophia complemented as the young girl grinned.

"Tee hee, thanks!"

Peppita continued to play around with the tiny pendent as Sophia looked around the bus. Fayt, true to his word, was once again allowing Maria to sleep on his shoulder and was not making any attempt to pester her as he quietly played on his hand held game. The little machine was a replica of the one destroyed by Luther's goons. It had taken Fayt months to find another one in the rare metallic blue color and it had taken even longer to find the game that he had lost. Sophia never had the chance to tell anyone about her encounter with Luther since she hadn't seen anyone but Nel and Albel all weekend and Mirage's phone was always busy every time she tried to call.

She was, of course, worried about Cliff and Mirage's safety, but knew they were strong enough to fend for themselves. What she was really concerned over was Maria. Luther seemed to want to impress Maria by being nice to her and Fayt. It sounded like he liked her. Now if it were any other boy, Sophia wouldn't be too surprised because Maria was very beautiful and could have any boy she wanted with the exception of Albel…and Cliff, but brothers, even adopted ones, didn't count. The fact that it was Luther, the cold-hearted bully who only cared about money, made her cautious. He hated Cliff and could use Maria to get to him, but then again, maybe Luther had changed during his time in alternative school.

Sophia was about to open her mouth to inform and warn Maria, but Cliff's stunt cut her off. He was using his math homework as ammunition for spit wads and kept hitting the students in the front and blaming Fayt every time he was caught (but for some reason, he kept referring to Fayt as a 'she' instead of 'he'). No one else in the back seats, except for Roger (who helped out by throwing some wads of his own) paid attention to him. That is, until he struck the back of the head of the same boy Sophia was about to warn about. Her eyes widened as she glanced at Maria sleeping on Fayt's shoulder. If Luther really did like Maria, would he get jealous over seeing them like that? She didn't want Fayt to get hurt over a misunderstanding so she quickly reached over and shook Maria awake before Luther slowly wiped off the paper wad and faced the back with an ice cold glare.

"Huh? What?" she slurred groggily as Fayt paused his game out of surprise.

"Hey look! I hit an asshole! 50 points for me! …Oh yeah and this time she didn't do it…" Cliff said while pointing at Fayt.

"…Okay, that's it. Why are you calling me a she?" Fayt finally wondered before Roger jumped up in his seat and hid his supply of paper wad ammunition.

"Idiot! Of all times to take the blame… Ya didn't have to tell _him_ you did it! He beat you up last time!"

"He did _not_ beat me up, I let him win," Cliff growled.

"Still, you better stop before another fight breaks out. Lasselle's on to you and you both may end up in jail if you fight him again," Maria warned as she placed a hand on Cliff's arm.

Sophia watched as Luther's eyes softened at the sight of Maria. He then did a very un-Luther like response by turning the other cheek and faced the front. Maybe he _did_ like Maria after all. …But still, Maria deserved better than that and she was sure Maria didn't have a crush on Luther. Suddenly, Mirage's limo appeared beside the bus with its usual signs. The first one said 'How do you get Lasselle to laugh on Monday mornings? Tell him a joke on Friday!' and the second one had 'Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot- proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.' Some of the students chuckled over the signs before Luther leaned his head back to throw a smug grin over his shoulder at Cliff. With a snap of his fingers, all the students that owed him something, which was nearly all of them minus Fayt and the others, stood up, pulled down the windows and then threw eggs at Mirage's limo.

Nope, he hadn't changed one bit. He was still a heartless jerk. Everyone could only watch on helplessly as the egg goo covered the windows and made it difficult for the driver to see. The limo swerved on the road before the bus turned the final corner, throwing all the students, except for Luther and Cliff, against the opposite end in the process. There were sounds of screeching brakes followed by a loud crash that permeated through the noise of the bus driver's usual maniacal laughter as Cliff stuck his head out the window and called Mirage's name.

"Off the bus, brats! My shows are coming on in five minutes and I won't be held responsible for any casualties to any who get in my way!" the driver warned as Fayt and crew separated from the tangled pile they had landed in and quickly made their way out amid the safety of the crowds. Cliff had already ran out before everyone else and stared in the direction Mirage's limo was last seen. The normally silent atmosphere was ruined by the sound of car alarms and honking horns.

* * *

It was quiet. Too quiet. No one else was there. Not Mirage, not Lieber, not even Albel. The latter two didn't concern Nel much as she waited at the front entrance for her friends, but Mirage was always here before she was and that was unusual. True, she _was_ here earlier than usual but then Mirage would appear five minutes later; Nel had arrived ten minutes ago. Not only was Mirage late, but it seemed the bus was late as well. She couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Like one of her friends getting seriously hurt or someone about to attack her from behind… 

Nel almost jumped when she felt hands on her shoulders that began pulling her into the shade of the school.

"I'm sorry Nel, but we need to kill them," a familiar male voice said near her ear.

"Who do we 'need to kill' this time?" she inquired in a sarcastic tone as she pulled away from Albel's grasp and faced him.

"Our dads," he replied curtly, "They have been toying with us the whole time."

"Toying? Where did you get that idea?"

"My mother informed me that she and your mother _did _go to the resort, but our fathers went somewhere else. She didn't know what they were up to and I believed her because she thought my father was planning to stir up trouble when he willingly volunteered to leave a letter for me before their disappearance. My dad knew I would be suspicious instantly and informed your father. That's why Nevelle slipped when he called us, to tease us because he knew we were already suspicious of them."

"So they were on to us from the beginning…" Nel crossed her arms and glanced around the school yard, "And we were so close to figuring it out last Saturday."

Albel let out a sigh and looked away, "…I took your advice and summoned the services of that blue haired fool to re-wire all the phone lines so I could listen in to whatever our fathers are discussing. I found that the object they retrieved had something to do with both our families, but your father suddenly cut off and hung up before I could find out anymore."

Nel decided not to mention that she tried to eavesdrop on the very same conversation yesterday and was detected by Nevelle. Suddenly the silence was shattered by the sound of a car crash followed by alarms and sirens. Albel and Nel glanced at each other, one pair of eyes was slightly concerned and the other was wary yet bored.

"I wonder what that was?" she wondered as she looked away from him.

"Some maggot got into a car wreck, what else would it be?" he snapped in a lightly amused tone. Nel glared at him before she punched him in the side. It wasn't enough to hurt him, but it did make him gasp in surprise.

"I know _that_! I was just wondering who it was and how it happened."

"I thought you were smarter than that, cerise. It was probably some fool who didn't get enough sleep or had stayed up the entire night drinking. Either way, it would serve them right if they lost their life."

"…Stop calling me that… I know you didn't mean that, about them deserving to die…"

"Oh, do you?" he replied in a sarcastic voice as he circled around her.

"Yeah," she confirmed with a nod, "You always parade around, acting like you don't care about anyone in the world and couldn't care less if they died, but I know better. ...For instance, what would you do if it was Glou in that car and he died?"

Albel stared at her from the corner of his eye, "Then I'd probably do something drastic like throw a party or hire Glyphian dancers to dance over his grave."

Nel rolled her eyes as a grin formed on her features, "Oh please, I can read you like a book! You'd wait until you're completely alone and then cry your eyes out. You always say that you hate your father when really you love him so much that you try to push yourself in fights so he would be proud of you …You're such a …daddy's boy."

He turned and glared at her before he grabbed her arm to pull her closer, "What was that? Care to say that to my face, woman?"

"You heard me. You're a daddy's boy!" she giggled. He tightened his grip on her arm, but didn't do anything more than just glare at her.

"I am not! Take that back!" he ordered as she fought to control her laughter.

"Your nickname should be Albel the Daddy's Boy!"

"Shut up!" Suddenly he let go of her arm and glanced at the ground as a wicked smirk appeared on his face. Nel involuntarily took a step back away from him. She had the upper hand a moment ago, but now it looked like he had something to retaliate with.

"Are you jealous?"

"What?" she exclaimed as she took another step back.

"Are you upset that I don't have as much respect for you as I have for my father?" He took a few steps towards her and whispered in her ear, "I can read you like a book too, if I wanted to, cerise."

Nel quickly backed away and faced another direction so he couldn't see the red forming on her cheeks. Glou always complained about how Albel could figure anything out as if he was the greatest detective in Gaitt. Could he have found out about her feelings for him? No, he doesn't care about what other people think or feel about him. He also wouldn't be using that knowledge to tease or taunt others unless it was a part of getting him something that he wanted. Albel was trying to find a way to get her to stop calling him a 'daddy's boy' and said the first thing he figured that would catch her off guard. Albel's dark laugh confirmed her suspicions as she crossed her covered arms.

"Stop calling me 'cerise' you maggot!" she yelled before he scoffed.

"What have I told you about name calling, cerise?" It was all a game to him, there was no feelings involved. He was aiming to keep himself entertained by making her angry. Nel knew better than to think that her fantasies of him having affections for her were true.

"That you should stop it before I give you a fat lip," she retorted instantly.

"Go ahead and try," he challenged. Nel spun around with the intent of slapping him instead of punching him, but was caught off guard when she found that he was right in front of her and that his face was really close to hers. Suddenly someone cleared their throat, making the two pause in their fight and face the intruder.

"…Lady Zelpher, Lord Nox, good morning. It is such a beautiful day today, don't you think?" Luther greeted as he slowly climbed the concrete stairway towards them. Nel quickly backed away from Albel with a faint blush.

"Uh, yes it is. It finally feels like autumn now and the weather is wonderful," she replied as the boy glanced at the sky with a serene smile on his face.

"Indeed. It really is a great day to be alive."

Albel raised an eyebrow, it sounded like he was trying to indicate something. Deciding that the maggot was not worth his time, he ignored Luther until he reached the glass doors.

"Well, farewell…cerise and daddy's boy," Luther muttered before ducked into the school. Albel and Nel's heads snapped up before Albel growled and was about to go after him. One reason he was chasing him down was because _no one_ was going to get away with calling him a daddy's boy (Nel was going to be punished later), and the other reason was because only he was allowed to call Nel 'cerise', everyone else should refer to her by her title or given name.

"LET ME GO! I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" a voice shouted, making Albel freeze and glance behind him. Cliff was being held down by Fayt, Maria, and Sophia but he still manage to drag the extra weight from the bus to the school.

"If you're referring to Luther, it's too late. Albel seems to have called dibs on him," Nel stated as she watched Cliff slowly carry the others up the stairs.

"Good! He can gut him after I beat his face in!"

"Heh," Albel smirked, "That's a first, the maggot actually has a good idea, but I will be the one to take him down first."

"Nel, stop him before he actually does kill Luther," Sophia pleaded.

"Attacking him will only play into Luther's hand," Fayt grunted, "Besides, Mirage might still be okay!"

"What?" Nel called out in surprise as a cold feeling of dread rushed through her body, "What happened to Mirage?"

Cliff finally stopped struggling against his friends and kneeled on the ground. When everyone let go of him, he slammed his fist down on the hard ground without even flinching. Maria stared at the ground solemnly before facing Nel.

"Luther caused Mirage's car to crash and we don't know if Mirage is okay. They won't let us leave school grounds to check it out."

"Oh my…" Nel whispered before she brought her hand up to her chest. So that's why Mirage wasn't here.

"Damn it! If so much as a hair on her head is damaged, Luther's gonna wish he was never born," Cliff growled as he got up and walked towards the glass doors. He looked as if he wanted to cry, but easily held it in as he clenched his fists.

"I…hope she is okay," Sophia added softly as she and the others swept their gazes back across the school yard towards the corner of the school wall where the accident occurred.

"Hope who's okay?" a voice asked at the door. Everyone snapped their attention back to the doors.

"MIRAGE!" all except Albel screamed in shock as the young blonde girl approached her friends while hiding some papers into her back pack. There wasn't a scratch on her. Unable to hold himself back, Cliff ran up to give her a big bear hug.

"Um…" she started, her face containing a confused and uncertain expression as she tried to pull away, "…What happened? Did Cliff convince you guys that it was my birthday again?"

Everyone glanced at each other with stunned faces before Fayt spoke up, "You were in a car crash…weren't you? The limo went off road and…"

Suddenly Mirage's face went pale, "What…did you say?"

She ran past the group, down the stairs as she pulled out her cell phone, "Francis? Are you alright? …Oh, good…The car is totaled? That's okay, as long as you're uninjured…Yeah, alright, bye."

Once she had her phone safely tucked away in her pocket, she faced the team with an icy glare and asked in a dark tone, "Who egged my limo?"

"Five words," Cliff started as he cracked his knuckles, his voice filled his fierce malice, "Luther the stupid bastard."

"So that's why you were tearing up your math homework, you knew you were getting an 'F' either way," Maria commented in a dry tone as Fayt counted Cliff's words on his fingers.

"Wait a minute, I'm confused," Nel said as she glanced down at Mirage from the top of the stairs, "If you weren't in the limo, then where were you?"

"Oh! …I was here since six in the morning. I had Francis drive the limo along side the bus as a decoy to throw a certain someone off." Cliff brightened up at her words and allowed a slight smile through his previously angry features.

"You mean you…" he trailed off before she nodded, "…and you also…"

"The mission is complete," she answered with a smirk. Cliff chuckled evilly as everyone else gave the two troublemakers weird looks. They were completely lost in whatever the two were up to. Not one of them could even summon up the courage to ask 'who' they were after this time.

"Now that's done, let's go plot a way to get back at Luther," Cliff ordered.

"Roger."

"Hold on! You're not serious are you?" Fayt complained before Cliff and Mirage could wander away, "Luther probably thinks he got back at you and if you pull another prank on him, then he might actually harm you guys when he retaliates."

"Chill out, we'll be careful. We're gonna hit that idiot so hard that he's not gonna know what hit 'em." Cliff's response earned a sigh from Fayt, a light shaking of the head and an eye roll from Maria, and a hand over the eyes from Sophia and Nel.

"Fools…" Albel muttered from the back. He had dropped the idea of taking down Luther for now and decided to wait until later before he took his revenge. Nel raised an eyebrow at how talkative Albel was today. Usually he would just sit there and pretend that they weren't here as everyone talked. Fayt opened his mouth to once again persuade the troublemakers to reconsider their next action, but was interrupted as Steeg and Marietta walked by.

"Hey Faytabella! You're looking very_ pretty_ today," the silver haired teen teased. Fayt only stared back at him confused before Maria leaned back to tear off a sign on his back and gave it to him. It wasn't one of Mirage's usual signs because it was written in a nearly illegible scrawl that could be identified as Cliff's handwriting.

"What the…," He squinted his eyes as he tried to deciphered the sign, "…'I'm a pretty little girl'? CLIFF!"

"There's no point in getting mad, so far only Steeg was able to read what it said," Sophia shrugged as she grabbed the paper and threw it away. Fayt stared at her with a shocked expression that quickly melted into a frustrated one.

"You knew about it?" he complained as he followed everyone as they headed inside

"He put it on you the minute you sat down. I thought you knew about and was just playing along," Maria added like it was the most obvious thing in the world. No one seemed to notice Cliff and Mirage slowing down and falling behind the group carefully.

"You too, Maria?" Fayt faced her with wide eyes and a small blush.

The blue haired girl let out a small shrug, "It's not even an issue. It wasn't the first time Cliff planted signs on you and he seems to go easy on you anyway. I've seen him and Mirage put really rude signs on other people before."

"Um, Maria?" Nel started as she stifled a snicker and pointed beside Maria's head. Maria slowly turned to find a picture of her in her P.J.s (not the t-shirt) posted on the wall. She glanced down the hallway to find even more pictures lining the walls. So that was what Mirage was up to this morning.

"…CLIFF! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU AND HIRE SOMEONE TO TORTURE YOUR GIRLFRIEND!" she screamed, but it was too late. The two blondes were already gone.

* * *

Despite the rough morning, classes were not too boring and drawn out. Homeroom, 1st, and 2nd periods each had something odd happen. In homeroom, or rather right after homeroom, Fayt stayed behind in class and was later seen with a large, dreamy grin on his face. Halfway through 1st period, there were loud pops coming from the restrooms a few doors down from Count Noppen's room that resulted in flooding in the halls. All the classed in the area had to evacuate. Nel and Maria had a sneaking suspicion that Mirage still had a few cherry bombs left over from last month and Cliff used them on Berial and Belzeber because the goons were completely soaked when they appeared outside with the other classes. In Duke Vox's second period government class, Albel semi-politely asked Nel to be his partner in a group project while she was filling Luther in on the subjects he missed while he was gone. After the class ended, Albel was no where to be seen. 

Because of the fact that he was always hanging around Nel, it was strange, but Nel saw it as a blessing in disguise as she decided to stop by her locker for her mp3 player. Farleen was gone on a doctor's appointment so Maria declared that it was a good day for the band to practice and Nel's mp3 player contained songs they composed together. She was glad Albel wasn't around because she didn't want him looking through her locker and finding all of her CDs. She was certain he would be upset at the kind of CDs she kept in her locker because not all of them were heavy metal. Heavy metal music was what made Albel nicer to her when they were younger and was almost the cause of them becoming friends. But since Nel had moved and met Maria, her interests shifted to pop music, but she still liked heavy metal.

"So it was the blue haired maggot that poisoned you," Albel's dark voice drifted past her ear before she could touch the door of her locker. She was able to identify the 'blue haired maggot' as Maria because he usually referred to Fayt as a 'fool'.

"What are you talking about?" She faced him and was surprised that he didn't look like he was playing around. He was actually serious.

"You mentioned that you don't like heavy metal anymore, and now I found out why," he explained as he held up Nel's mp3 player. She gasped in surprise before she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Where did you get that? Did you go though my locker?"

"Hmph, I was bored. I was hoping you kept something worth listening to in this thing only to find some crappy songs by the maggot. I don't even know why I'm wasting my breath on you anymore…"

"How _dare_ you go through my locker!" she yelled, ignoring both his biting comment and the slow smirk forming on his lips. She wasn't sure if he was trying to make her mad on purpose again or that he was getting turned on by her anger. Nel really doubted it was the latter, "…Besides, I still like heavy metal, I only said that I didn't for the fake argument!"

"Please, you wrote most of the songs in the maggot's band and if you were telling the truth then you would have dropped that asinine piano and picked up an electric guitar to make it sound like heavy metal," he growled as the smirk vanished. Nel huffed as he crossed her arms and looked away from him. Doing so made her miss the occasional glances to the side he made as if he was waiting for something to come.

"What makes you think I haven't written some heavy metal worthy songs? If Maria changed some of her lyrics in number 5 then the song would have sounded like something from DemonRage _and_ number 7 was inspired by one of the songs by Invisible Claw."

She couldn't believe that she was trying to _prove_ something so ridiculous. Who was he to say what she can and cannot listen to? Maybe Albel had an ulterior motive besides making her furious. Then again who's to say that he was aiming to infuriate her? It's possible that he really did cherish what little friendship he had with her and was worried that they were drifting apart when he assumed that the one thing they had in common was gone, at least conversation wise. They still had plenty of things in common like famous dads and advanced skills in blades, but those were nothing to talk about. Sometimes all it takes is one common interest in someone else to make a loner dread retuning to solitude. Nel stopped in her thoughts instantly. Albel _worried_? That wouldn't happen even when he's old and senile. She faced him again to find him snapping his attention back to her after he glanced down the hall again. What ever he was staring at distracted him enough for her to snatch her mp3 player out of his hand.

Albel was pulled out of his slight daze after that and glared at the device now in Nel's hand and then said softly, "…By the way, I found that in your purse, not in your locker."

"Oh…" All of her fury was suddenly gone and she couldn't think of what to say next. It seemed the fire of the argument extinguished before it could cause damage. Neither one spoke after that, but Albel stared at her intently to the point where she had to glance away before she blushed. What did he want now? She opened her mouth to ask, but he gently moved her aside.

"You seemed upset when you thought I went through your locker. I wonder what you're hiding in there," he taunted as he reached for the door of her locker. Nel made a sound of protest as she tried to block him, but he was too fast.

"Locker check!" he muttered in an unusually enthusiastic tone that was rather out of character for the likes of him as he practically yanked the door open, forcing it to bang into someone's face. Thinking back, Nel recalled that her neighbor (whoever he or she was) arrived a few seconds ago to check on their locker.

"Watch where you're going, worm," Albel sneered. Nel was about to close the door and apologize to whomever was hit until she noticed a piece of paper from art class had escaped from its folder and was hanging by its corner for all to see. Had it been any other picture, she wouldn't have cared, but this was a beautifully detailed sketch of Albel in a sword stance and she definitely didn't want him to see that. Thankfully, the subject of her art was currently focused on the unfortunate victim, allowing her to close the door before he could see it.

Her eyes widened in shock when she saw who was behind the door. Standing right in front of her with hands over his nose and an expression just as equally as shocked as hers was …Luther. It seemed that Albel got his revenge for the daddy's boy crack.

"I…I-I'm sorry…?" was all he stuttered before he bowed politely and made a hasty exit. Nel could only gape at his response. Luther was the biggest bully in school. He never apologized to anyone, _especially_ if someone intentionally made a fool of him. He was the most feared and respected member of the school. Then again, so was Albel. How else did he earn the name Albel the Wicked? If what happened was a test to see which one was the school one and only bad boy, then that meant that Luther was the lesser of two evils. He looked _afraid_ to even _think_ about saying something nasty to Albel in retaliation for the stunt.

Nel opened and closed her mouth, unable to find the right words after such an awkward situation until Albel held his hand under her chin to close it, "Catch flies on your own time, cerise. We're five minutes late to class."

She was still too stunned to even glare at him, but she still managed to follow him to class.

"W-was that why you were bothering me, just to hit Luther?" she finally said after a brief silence. She found it hard to believe that Luther was the reason for his rather childish argument.

"Somewhat yes," he admitted as he gave her a sidelong glance, "But I really did have to give you a piece of my mind for your betrayal."

"I did not-!"

"I don't know if I should give you this anymore," he sighed in fake resign, cutting her off effectively.

"What? Give me what?" she wondered as she faced him with an intrigued façade when he dug through his pocket for the item in question.

"You know my father is going to force me to give you a gift, but the only thing I have is occurring a week before your birthday, meaning that I have to give it to you now," he explained as he held out two tickets, "Though this isn't a gift for a traitorous pop music lover."

Nel snatched the tickets out of his hand before he could pull them away. After close examination, she found that they were real tickets to her and Albel's favorite band, Nuclear Crucifixion, and they were front row seats.

"Where did you get these? The Nuclear Crucifixion concert has been sold out for months!"

He didn't answer her question right away giving her the impression that they were obtained against someone's will, at least that's usually how he got rare items. She knew that they weren't stolen because even if he had to beat up anyone, he'd still pay for it afterwards. Glou made that much clear to him when he wanted something.

"…Around," he eventually replied, giving her more reasons to believe that there was someone out there half-beaten and lying in a dumpster somewhere.

* * *

Inside the auditorium reminded one of a tense meeting between negotiating parties in a war as Maria glared at Cliff, Mirage glared at Maria, and Cliff glared at Lieber because he was sticking his nose where it didn't belong as he tried to help Maria. Sophia and Fayt watched on helplessly as the verbal battle continued among the three and a half. Steeg and Marietta sat off to the side with amused smiles and made comments on how they wished they had some pop corn. 

"Even if I did set you guys up on a date, why are you getting mad at me? If anything, shouldn't you be happy that you two are together now?" Maria yelled angrily.

"Yeah!" Lieber added, making Cliff and Maria stare at him briefly.

"We _are_ grateful, that's why I bought the latest surround sound speakers for the auditorium," Mirage sighed softy and gestured towards the new sound system with her left hand. They had come in a few hours ago and were still in their packaging, waiting to be taken out and set up. Something that Fayt waited eagerly for, but had to wait until the smoke from the fight cleared.

"So what were the pictures for?" the blue haired leader demanded with a red face.

"Yeah!"

"Lieber?" Cliff finally said tiredly.

"…Yeah?"

"Shut up, you have no idea what we are taking about," he ordered, earning a dejected face from the loudmouth boy.

"Yeah, okay," he mumbled as he made his way to sit down next to his brother.

"Anyway, the reason why we done that was because you broke your promise and messed around with us," he explained after he tore his gaze away from Lieber.

"I did not!" Maria snapped, now completely outraged, "How dare you accuse me of such things!"

"Well Maria, if you didn't do it, then who did?" Mirage asked calmly before the girl could shrug her shoulders.

Nel stood next to Albel near the back, watching silently until she thought she heard Albel chuckling. When she moved her head to look at him she was surprised to find a look similar to his father's plastered all over his face. It was an expression Glou would give when he got away with something that no one noticed, but seeing Albel make it was indeed a rare sight. He must have done something to her or is expecting something even more shocking than what he did to Luther to run through the doors. She noticed that his crimson eyes were trained on the quarrelling trio, meaning that whatever it was, was either intended for them or it had already happened to them.

"What did you _do_?" she hissed in between her teeth so only he could hear her.

"Remember that guest on the first night that I had to spend at your worthless dump?" Her eye twitched before she glared at him and opened her mouth to perhaps tell him off or at least make him regret saying those words, but he wouldn't let her speak, "That guest was the Koas worm's mother. She was wondering if I would go out with her brat."

"Mirage's …mother?" she uttered as she tried to keep her voice down, "You weren't rude to her were you?"

"I'm hurt that you would think that, cerise. All I did was inform her of the maggot who was 'madly in love' with her daughter and sent the fool on her way."

"…So then _you_ were the one who ultimately set them up on the date," she clarified as she gave him a sly look, "…That's awfully sweet of you."

The smirk vanished into an irritated scowl in an instant, "Bah, don't read too much into it. I only did it so I wouldn't have to go out with the worm."

"Sure you did," she teased, knowing full well that he would have refused (in a rude manner) no matter how many times Lady Koas begged. Nel then started to wander over to the front of the room towards the others, "Now that I have heard the truth, I'd better go clear Maria's name."

Albel grabbed her wrist before she could get far.

"Don't you dare," he growled venomously, "The maggots will misinterpret my intentions like you did."

"So? I can't just sit here and let Maria take the blame that belongs to _you_! They need to know the truth."

"And I suppose the worms would like to know the truth about 4th period while we're at it," he threatened, effectively making her freeze in place. He wouldn't would he? He must be bluffing!

"S-Surely you don't want _Cliff_ to know the fact that you have seen my underwear," she whispered as she tried to hide the blush that was forming. He only let out a cruel grin that demons like Romero would be proud of.

"From what I've been hearing, the boys in this school would be envious that I had the chance to see your ass. The maggot would probably attempt to congratulate me-"

"Okay, fine!" she muttered with frustration, "I won't tell them you did it, but I still need to help Maria."

She quickly broke away from his grasp and almost pushed Fayt to the ground trying to reach them, "Maria's innocent! She had nothing to do with setting you up on the date."

"Ah hah! So you did it!" Cliff shouted immediately as he pointed at her accusingly.

Mirage slowly shook her head and lowered his hand, "How do you know? Were you involved?"

"No, but I do know who the culprit is." The blonde woman tilted her head slightly as she regarded what the red head had to say.

"Really? Who?" Nel paused from her question.

"I can't tell you…I've been threatened into silence."

"So then Albel did it!" Cliff shouted joyously as Albel's head snapped over to glare at them.

"…What makes you think that?" Nel inquired guardedly.

"Cause you said that you were threatened and that guy says nothing but threats," Cliff replied confidently.

"Albel is not the only one who makes threats," Mirage said, unexpectedly coming to the rescue, "Plus, I haven't heard a single threat from him this week."

"This week? Today's Monday!" Cliff reminded her, making her fall silent. She remembered Nel telling her that Albel cared about no one but himself so the idea that he helped get her and Cliff get together was a little absurd. She firmly believed that Albel wasn't the culprit. With that in mind, she decided not to mention that Albel threatened her in Calculus last Friday lest it fueled Cliff's suspicions.

Sophia looked around nervously as she debated whether or not to mention that the currently accused threatened her Saturday. She ended up not saying anything at all in fear of more threats from him. Fayt also fidgeted where he stood. Albel did nothing but threaten him when he came by to re-wire all the phone lines in Albel's house on Sunday. Maria stared at everyone curiously and wondered if the threatening looks Albel had been giving her all morning counted for anything. Wait, why was she worrying about anything? She was off the hook! Maria then let out a happy sigh as she walked over to the nearest chair and watched the show.

"Well," Nel was beginning to get flustered, "Luther threatens a lot of people too."

"So then Luther did it?" Cliff queried before Mirage slowly placed a hand over her temple and shook her head.

"Why would our mortal enemy help us out by setting us up on a date?" she pointed out in a dry tone.

"I dunno…she said," he muttered as he pointed at the red head.

"So if I said that Fayt threatened someone, then you would blame him?" Nel wondered hypothetically, curious to see the outcome.

"Yes," he replied bluntly, "…so then it was Fayt's fault? Man! I trusted you!"

"What? No!" Fayt cried in disbelief now that he was being accused.

"Now that I think about it…both he and Sophia _were_ in Peterny. _And_ Sophia did have a camera ready," Mirage said as she narrowed her eyes at the two.

"Yeah, but I always have a camera ready…at least until you guys took it," Sophia grumbled as she looked away.

"Speaking of that, where is my camera? You said that you would return it today," Fayt reminded the troublemakers.

"Uh…yeah, we're still using it, but don't worry, it still works," the muscled teen responded cautiously as he rubbed the back of his neck. His answer didn't reassure the blue haired boy in the slightest.

"Anyway," Sophia continued, "Nel's the one who knows who did it and she only used Fayt in a hypothetical sense."

"Good point," Mirage agreed, satisfied with the brunette's explanation before she turned away from them.

"Hey Fayt," Maria suddenly whispered, catching his attention, "I didn't know Sophia knew big words like 'hypothetical'."

"Nether did I," he whispered back.

Albel eventually moved to the front to stand beside Nel. By that time, she decided that the argument had gone on long enough, "Okay so we can all agree that Maria wasn't the one who did it. Why don't we just drop the rest for now?"

"But we still don't have anyone to blame," Cliff whined.

Nel let out a tired sigh, "…You threaten a lot of people yourself…"

"So I did it? I should have known it was me all along!" he said with a small grin indicating that he was only playing around now. But that didn't stop the worried looks everyone gave him.

"Okay, so you can't tell us who did it. We'll just have to accept that. As for Maria, I guess we'll have to apologize," Mirage replied before she placed a hand on Cliff shoulder to get him to face his sister.

"No we don't," Cliff responded slyly as he glanced at his girlfriend.

Maria let out a cry of outrage before shooting up from her seat, "Yes you do! You've completely humiliated me for no reason!"

"Actually, you haven't been humiliated. There are a lot of secret admirers out there that have been dying for pictures of you and all of them thought that one was cute."

Mirage caught on to what Cliff was talking about and added, "Oh that's right. We've started a business now because there is a high demand for more high definition photos of you. But don't worry, we'll sell good pictures of you."

"And we'll give you 20 percent of the profits."

Maria's mouth hung open at the new information before she shook her head, "Secret admirers? What secret admirers?"

Everyone pointed at Lieber even though he wasn't much of a 'secret' as Sophia pointed at someone else that Maria couldn't see from where she was standing.

"Believe it or not, you actually have a lot of secret admirers, most not in this room of course," Sophia explained as the blue haired girl hung her head in defeat.

"I want 50 percent," she mumbled.

"What!" her brother shouted in shock.

"I said I want 50 percent of the cut," she repeated louder.

"But-" he began to argue but was interrupted by her glare.

"Do it or I'll tell mom where you sneak off to at night and while I'm at it, I'll tell Mirage too."

Cliff knew she was talking about his old habit of sneaking over to Mirage's house to look though her windows and remembered what Mirage had said about that.

_'If I hear that again, you are going to wish you dropped out of 5th period.'_

"Fine! 50 percent!" he reluctantly agreed as Maria smiled smugly.

"Thank you, it's a pleasure doing business you with, brother."

* * *

I hope you all liked the chapter! The challenges for Alnel authors are still up and I'm so proud of the people who have contributed so far, but we STILL HAVE A LACK OF ALNEL! WE NEED EVEN MORE! I understand that there are some people out there with a lot of ideas, but most are too lazy to write them. If you or a friend are one of the hopelessly lazy, then please e-mail your idea to me and I'll post it on the challenge list and give you full credit for the idea. Oh, and don't be afraid to post a challenge fic that someone else has already done, just be sure to make it more unique from the others. Like for instance, there could be more not-what-you-think fics (hint-hint, nudge-nudge) out there even though The Adversary already wrote 'The Ride of the Elicoorians' (You gotta read it if you haven't already, it's hilarious!) 


	10. Cupid Strikes! Too Bad He's Blind

Sorry for the long wait, I've been working on another fic that I started four years ago. I have long since lost interest in the fandom (mostly because of Star Ocean), but I was so close to finishing it, that I couldn't give up on it yet. Kinda like Inuyasha's love for Kikyo when he knew he was madly in love with Kagome! In other news, has anyone seen my Alnel pic on my profile? I'm so proud on how it turned out! Yeah, okay you guys have been waiting for the update, so I'll shut up now.

Disclaimer: Aw do I have to? I'm upset enough knowing I don't own them.

Chapter 10

"Fayt, you go first," Cliff suggested as he pushed the blue haired boy forward. Once again the group was bickering on who would be the next victim of the bus driver's painful version of a practical joke.

"For the last time, NO!" he argued before pushing him back.

"I hate to say this, but I agree with Roger when he said that Cliff should go first, after all it _does_ take him awhile to feel pain, though it doesn't have anything to do with his intelligence," Maria said as Roger beamed from the complement.

"Thank you, I am a genius!"

"No one said that you were," Peppita muttered as she rolled her eyes.

"Well, I still have manners and from what I learned, ladies should go first," Cliff persisted as he bowed with exaggeration.

"Nuh-uh! Not after last time! I still have nightmares…" Sophia shuddered. Peppita was starting to get impatient with the others and decided to make a move.

"Ugh! I'll go, I can survive a headache," Peppita volunteered, but no one heard her. Cliff eventually shrugged and then pulled down a window.

"Well, I guess we should use plan B. …APRIS! NEL PUT YOUR SHIRT BACK ON!"

"WHAT?" Roger squeaked as a lecherous grin appeared on his face, "OUTTA THE WAY"

In less than five seconds the Menodix scrambled past everyone's legs and ran to the front of the bus where he unceremoniously ran into the door when the bus driver slammed it shut. Everyone was able to safely leave while the bus driver (and Cliff) laughed his head off. Peppita slowly shook her head as she briefly glanced at Roger's twitching form on the bottom of the steps and then left.

When Roger came to, he found himself in a heap on the cold hard ground and vaguely realized that the bus driver had kicked him out before driving off at a mad speed. He groaned as he slowly picked himself off of the ground. No one was around and he wasn't sure if class had started yet. He suddenly felt an itch and scratched it only to feel something that was stuck there fall off. He glanced down and found something shiny resting on his shoe.

"Sweet! I can sell this piece of junk, make millions, and then all the babes won't be able to get enough of me!" He schemed joyfully before he picked up the object and limped over to the Jr. High.

Back at the High School, the others managed to catch Albel and Nel talking to Tynave before they went inside the school. Everyone looked at each other in confusion when they approached the area they were at only moments ago.

"I wonder where they are going," Fayt commented as he stopped at the door. Everyone only shrugged until they heard another voice approaching them.

"They are going off to sign up for the I.S.F.T. It's being held in the gym. Tynave can't stop talking about it, she really believes that they can win," Clair explained as she climbed the concrete stairway.

"Oh, are you going to sign up Miss Clair?" Maria asked politely before the silver haired teachers aide shrugged. Everyone knew that Clair was good with daggers as much as Nel was.

"I don't have a partner, Albel took the only one I had."

"I could be your partner," Fayt suggested with excitement in his eyes, "It would be fun! Maybe we could kick Albel and Nel's butts if we started training now."

"Oh please Fayt, you haven't picked up a real sword in months. You've been playing games instead of training," Sophia scolded as she rolled her eyes, earning a glare from him.

Clair chuckled before she headed towards the glass doors, "Thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid that I must decline. I don't have time to compete anyway. Well, see you in homeroom."

"Bye, Miss Clair," Sophia and Maria said in unison. Cliff had been really quiet ever since Clair showed up. It was because he didn't see Mirage anywhere. After what Luther did yesterday, he's been even more protective of her.

"Hn? I wonder where Mirage is? I hope she is okay," Sophia commented, voicing Cliff's concerns. Maria glanced around the schoolyard, not one bit worried over the blonde girl because she knew that Mirage could get out of any trouble she could be in. She was worse than her brother in that way.

"She probably had to ride with her mom. After all, her limo was totaled." As if on cue, a white limo pulled up to the front and the chauffeur came around to open the door. Mirage stepped out with an extremely annoyed expression on her face. Soon after, her mother, Lady Koas, came out to escort her to the doors. Mirage was wearing a rather fancy dress, making the others wonder if she was angry at the dress or her mother.

"Hi Mrs. Mirage's mom!" Cliff greeted with a grin in Mirage's direction. She glared at him in response, knowing full well that he was making fun of the fact that she was in a dress.

"Oh, hello, dear. Now, Mirage be careful and stay close to your beau outside of class. It's improper for a young lady to wander around alone," Lady Koas said as she smoothed the wrinkles out of her daughter's dress.

"Yes, mother," she replied through clenched teeth, "…You may go now. Please."

"Oh, alright! I will be here to pick you up after school," she announced as she descended the stairs. Cliff quickly came up to Mirage and placed an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

"That's okay, Mrs. K, I'll bring her home tonight."

"Okay then, I'll see you tonight, and be safe."

"_Bye _mom!" She willed her mom to get into the limo faster, but she paused at the door to look back.

Cliff continued to rant, "I'll make sure she's as safe as …a turtle in its shell. I'll follow her everywhere like a bodyguard. I'll even go to the restroom with-"

He cut off abruptly as his eyes widened in slight pain. Mirage only smiled sweetly beside him as her mother's limo finally left the school grounds. If anyone bothered to look down at their feet, they would have found that her small foot was trying to crush Cliff's larger one. After she was sure the limo was out of sight, she pulled away from him and began unzipping the dress from behind.

"Alright, take it off…Take it all off!" Cliff then gave her a wolf whistle before the fancy dress was thrown at his head. Underneath the garment were a red and white T-shirt and a pair of Capri jeans.

"…Mothers are evil," she muttered when she finally faced everyone.

"Heh, tell me about it," Cliff scoffed, remembering his own mother.

"I'll tell mom you said that," Maria chimed behind him as he dropped the dress on the ground.

"…Little sisters are even more evil."

"I'll tell her you said that too."

"Tch! Tattletale."

"Wow, three things to tell mom. I wonder what punishment you'll get for that."

"Oh yeah?" he exclaimed as her faced her and pointed at her, "Well I'll tell mom that you…uh…DID THINGS!"

"That was brilliant," Fayt mumbled dryly.

"Riiiiight," Maria said sarcastically as she headed inside. Sophia bent down to pick up the discarded material.

"Can I borrow this Mirage? It would make a great costume for Theater Arts."

"Borrow it? You can keep it," Mirage replied while eyeing the dress with disgust.

"Really? You wouldn't mind if I made some adjustments to it?" she asked happily.

"Knock yourself out," she smiled.

Fayt, who was still bitter by Sophia's put down earlier, added, "No seriously, knock yourself out…with a book or a brick or something…"

"Shut up, Fayt!"

"So should we plan anything today, maybe a special prank for Luther? We should probably do something before he does," Mirage suggested as Cliff held the door open for her.

"Nah, I have a hunch that today is going to be a great day. We don't need to worry about him for now."

"Another hunch?" Fayt whined as he worried about it being the worst day possible now that he had said that.

"Say what you want, but my hunches are always right!"

"Oh really? What about that time during that dodge ball game?" Mirage inquired sweetly, deflating his ego and pride a bit.

"I told you that was one time! _One_ time!"

* * *

"Okay, I already informed Clair, Count Noppen, and Duke Vox about where you are. Go ahead and take your time to examine your competition and tell me your strategy in class later," Tynave ordered before she left Albel and Nel at the gym door. They only glanced at each other and then at the door.

Nel let out a smirk as she said, "I _told_ you Miss Tynave was going to make us sign up."

"Bah," he responded as he pushed the doors open. They found an unusually crowed gymnasium with people running around to sign up, find sponsors, or listen for great deals on blades. There were people (and humanoids) of many sizes, from short Menodix to teams with members in their 60s. There were also many types of weapons strapped to some of the competitors. Axes, broad swords, long swords, short swords, daggers, and shurikens were some of the more prominent weapons around the gym. Albel and Nel were not the only ones present who didn't have swords on them. Because of the law where children 17 and under were not allowed to carry weapons in public, everyone their age also didn't have anything on them.

"Well…" Nel began as she scouted through the crowds, "What do you think of the competition?"

"I see maggots. They're everywhere. Walking around, thinking they're normal people," he stopped to gaze at her with fake concern in his eyes, "I don't think they even know they're maggots."

Nel blinked once and then twice before she succumbed to deep laughter. She usually just ignored his insults towards other people, but this time she couldn't resist, it was that funny. Albel eventually turned to face another direction to hide the fact that he was smiling at her.

"I'm sure you can inform them when we face them in battle," she chuckled as she led him to the nearest booth. Inside the booth was an old humanoid man with pale green skin and a large bumpy nose. Albel stood close behind her with his arms crossed in his usual bored fashion.

"Name," the old man grunted, not bothering to look up from his clip board.

"Nel Zelpher," she answered as he wrote it down.

"Age."

"I will be 18 before the tournament starts."

"Weapon of choice."

"Her nagging," Albel replied before she could open her mouth. She glared at him and punched his shoulder.

"Daggers," she finished in a stern voice.

"Partner's name." Nel glanced back at him and realized that he wasn't going to answer.

"Albel Nox."

"Age."

"3," she muttered under breath before responding with, "He will be 18 before the tournament as well."

"Weapon of choice."

"His ego-I mean katana." Albel stared at her from the intentional slip up as the man continued.

"Sponsor." Nel pulled out the papers Tynave gave her and held it before the man.

"We represent Aquios High."

The official pulled out a pair of reading glasses to read over the contents of the paper and verified that the school seal was legitimate. Once he wrote down all the information, he stamped a seal on the entry form, "Now all you need is a team name."

Nel paused, she hadn't thought about that. She had an idea, but didn't know if Albel liked it. Then again, he didn't have any suggestions as he continued to glare at her. With a name thought out, she glanced at Albel for a moment and then opened her mouth to answer, but was surprised when he answered at the same time.

"'Rebels without an Existence'"

"'Arcane Warriors of the Black Brigade'"

They both glared at each other before yet another argument started.

"Why 'Rebels without an Existence'?" he snarled.

"Why 'Arcane Warriors of the Black Brigade'?" she retorted, but then caught herself as she remembered that the official was waiting patiently for the name, "Let's make a compromise."

"Whatever, just leave 'Black Brigade' in the title."

"Okay…," Nel stopped to think about it and came up with, "How about 'Black Brigade Warriors without an Existence'?"

"Fine," he mumbled as he turned away. Well that argument was settled quickly.

"'Black Brigade Warriors without an Existence'?" the official confirmed before pulling out two packets, "As you know, the tournament starts mid January, leaving you both three months to train. These packets contain the rules and regulations, time and dates of the tournament, and some extra information about the traveling and sleeping arrangements."

Albel instantly grabbed his packet and flipped through the information book as Nel politely bowed and thanked the man for his time. They wandered aimlessly through the crowd as a smirk appeared on Albel's face. Nel didn't like that look. It meant that he was plotting something that usually made her furious in the end. She tried ignoring him, hoping that he'll forget whatever he was thinking about. He soon let out a short chuckle that caught her full attention.

"What's so funny?" she asked in a half curious, half wary tone. He acted like he didn't hear her.

"Hmph, how quickly things get interesting…"

"Okay Nox, what are you talking about?" She was starting to get irritated.

"Look at page 11 under 'Hotels', _Zelpher_," he instructed before she pulled the small booklet from her pack. There was nothing out of the ordinary. All it was talking about was the hotels the contestants would stay in during the tournament, but there was a small bit of information that made Nel's cheeks redden and nearly made her cry out in a mixture of embarrassment, shock, and anger.

"…We have to share a room!"

* * *

The bell for first period was about to ring and there was still no sign of Nel and Albel. Maria and Sophia were hoping that Albel could scare the count so he would forget that they had a test next period. When the bell finally rang, all the students filled out of homeroom until it was only Fayt left.

"Hey, you coming?" Cliff wondered as he paused by the door with Mirage. Fayt had computer applications with them and they always walked over to Dejison's classroom together.

"Don't worry about me, I'll catch up. I need to talk to Clair."

"Okay, but I'm not covering for you again. The old man's getting pretty shrewd lately," he said before wrapping an arm around Mirage's waist and heading out.

"He's not getting shrewd, your excuses are getting …well…they're getting rather dumb," Mirage commented as she glanced at Cliff.

"Then why don't _you_ come up with something next time, Miss Smarty Pants." His voice faded as they traveled further away from the classroom. Fayt directed his attention to the gray haired woman as she gathered her things to leave.

"Um, Miss Clair?" He was really nervous and didn't want to bother her, but he needed to know and she was the only one who could answer his question.

"Yes? What is it Fayt?"

"I was wondering…"

A few minutes later, an extremely happy Fayt practically skipped out of the classroom humming a cheerful tune. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the figure watching him near the corner. The look on the boy's face could be described as ecstatic, excited, or love struck. Two of the three choices concerned the silent observer, but she made no move to confront him. Instead she headed off to class before the tardy bell rang. Maria was skimming through her book when she noticed Sophia coming in with a worried expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" she asked as the brunette slowly sat down in the desk next to her.

"Nothing much, I'm worried about Fayt. He has that look on his face again, meaning that he's up to something. The last time he made that face was when he booby trapped my room after I hid all of his video games," she replied before she adopted a semi cheerful smile, "…But on the bright side, at least he won't be wasting his free time in front of the T.V., playing games."

"You really don't like video games, do you?" Maria surmised as she put the book down. She figured that Sophia didn't like them because Fayt would pay more attention to them than to her.

"No, I like them, especially that Final Fantasy one…What was it? The seventh one I think. There's a lot of drama in there with Aeris dying in it and all, but anyway, Fayt kinda goes overboard playing those games. He gets so wrapped up in them that he forgets to eat and sleep for days."

"Oh…" Maria never had much of an opinion over video games until she played Xenosaga, but still… She couldn't imagine getting _that_ obsessed over a game. Fayt had told her that he wanted to create games for a living, so she understood why he played so many, but letting them rule his life was going a bit too far. Even she was intrigued by the storyline and the battle systems and was still able to know when to call it quits for a day.

"Maria?" Sophia started, pulling the silent girl from her thoughts, "…Fayt has been going over to your house to watch you play games, hasn't he?"

"Err…yeah." She didn't want to give her the wrong impression and make her jealous over nothing, though it didn't seem like Sophia was accusing her of anything.

"Could…Could you keep asking him to go over to your house more often?"

Maria's head snapped up immediately, "Huh?"

"If he's watching someone else play, then he won't get so wrapped up in the game and then satisfy his needs once the person quits playing. I know you must be spending no more than three to five hours on a game, because he is always home on time to eat dinner when he goes over to your house," she explained as her eyes bore into the wood patterns on her desk. The blue haired girl was surprised by the request to say the least. If Sophia was that concerned over Fayt's health, then why didn't she play the games? After all wasn't she his girlfriend?

"I would do this myself, but…I'm not good at playing them. Fayt always gets frustrated watching me trying to figure out where to move the character," Sophia replied almost as if she had read her thoughts.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do, but I don't play that often."

She nodded in relief, "I understand, thank you Maria."

Maria focused her attention back to her book. She needed to study for the test because she was sure Noppen put together hard-to-answer questions just to spite them. As she read over the words on the page, she counted her blessings that Sophia didn't discover that she had a crush on Fayt.

"Oh, Maria?" she began again, indicating that she wasn't done with her.

"Yes?" Maria wondered as she glanced up at her book. Sophia was staring straight ahead at the wall in the front of the classroom.

"You have a crush on Fayt, am I right?"

"W-what?" she stammered as she tried to hold in her blush, but failed miserably. The brunette didn't look or sound angry when Maria didn't answer her question.

"I thought so…Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, it'll just be between us friends." She gave her a sweet smile before she pulled out her novel from her bag and began reading. Maria's book had long since fallen out of her hands and unto the floor. She had a feeling that Sophia wanted to say 'I know you have a crush on Fayt and I'm fine with that, but don't make any moves on him because he's mine', but couldn't be too sure. Maria knew she was pushing her luck when she thought she could get away with Sophia not knowing about her feelings for Fayt, but now she was kind of relieved that she knew. As long as Sophia doesn't mind that she has a crush on him, then she could try to get over him and still maintain her friendship with Sophia.

"Good morning you filthy urchins! I hope you studied for the test," the count sang as he bounded into the room. He didn't have to fear coming in today with Albel gone and he could be mean and assert his authority all he wanted without having to look over his shoulder to make sure no one was pressing a sword against his back. The class groaned as they put away their novels and pulled out their testing supplies.

* * *

"Albel, we need to come up with something! We can't just go fight without a good strategy!" Nel argued as she sat down next to him on the indoor bleachers.

"I don't see what's wrong with the way we've been fighting, none of the worms from Airyglyph could defeat me and you are the only one in Aquaria who is a challenge, …if not barely a challenge." She ignored the last thing he said so she would not start a real fight in the middle of a crowd.

"Okay fine, we know we can defeat anyone in Airyglyph and Aquaria, except our fathers of course, but what about the other countries? I've seen some teams mirror their fighting abilities so they can attack as one. We need to be able to sync our moves like that, but with us fighting with different weapons, it might be a bit hard."

"Hmph. What do you suggest we do about it? I doubt you're going to learn to fight with a katana any more than me picking up daggers," he muttered as she sighed.

"I know, but I don't think we can win the way we are right now. We need to get better."

"Then don't think. I haven't seen a maggot in here that seems strong enough to defeat us."

Nel had to admit that she was getting flattered that he thought so highly of _both_ their abilities. He hadn't said a word about how pathetic she was and how he should do all the fighting, though he never even had indicated that he thought she was a lousy warrior in the past.

"Even if things get tough, we have a secret weapon." Nel glanced at him curiously.

"Yeah, and what's that?"

"You get pretty strong when you're mad and it's easy to piss you off, cerise."

Her eyes narrowed at him, "What good would it do if I beat you up in the middle of the fight?"

"As if I'd let you beat me up," he scoffed.

"Oh yeah? Then what do you call last week?" she yelled as she stood up and glared down at him, "Maybe I should remind you!"

"Ooh, I'm so scared! A black thong wearing red head with a nice ass is going to attempt to hurt me with her bare fists." He grinned as he got up and used his height to tower over her. His face was so close to hers that their noses were touching, but she refused to be intimidated.

"You insufferable worm," she sneered as his grin got bigger.

"You know you-"

"Hey, Albel! Nel!" Both their eyes widened in recognition of the voice. The whole gym went silent with only a few whispers of 'They're back!' and 'Oh-no, we can't win against them!' as the two teens slowly turned their heads towards the doors.

Glou Nox chuckled when he noticed he got their attention and called out across the gym, "Guess what? Nevelle and I are going to sign up for the I.S.F.T. this year!"

When he heard his name, Nevelle looked up from the entry form to briefly wave at them and then turned back to the form. Albel and Nel blanched before they faced each other and muttered, "We're screwed" at the same time.

After that, Albel started to think about a strategy to beat them. How can they win against the men who taught them how to fight? The only way to accomplish it was to combine their skills and create a new way of fighting, but neither one knew where to begin. At least not until they went to their 3rd period class when Farleen decided to go back to her original lesson plan and teach the class some dances.

"Alright everyone! Today's lesson will be on Glyphian war dances. Everyone pick a partner while I go find the music," she announced in her high pitched voice.

"War dances? Are we gonna put paint on out faces and dance around a fire?" Cliff snickered as the violet haired teacher left the auditorium.

"No, fool. It's a very complex, yet beautiful dance between warriors and their lovers to represent what could be their final day together because it occurs the night before the soldiers march off to battle. The dance moves are mimicked from basic fighting techniques and require the men to be strong and the women to be…well flexible," Nel replied as everyone stared at her wide eyed, "What?"

"Did you just call Cliff a fool?" Maria asked before Nel realized what she had done.

"…Ugh! Great, Albel ruined my vocabulary. Thanks a lot!" she grumbled at the dark teen as he tried to hold back his smirk. After a while Nel then realized that their problem was solved. Glyphian war dances were just like two people fighting together, but in a rhythm and without weapons. They could easily change the routine and incorporate some of their own more difficult fighting moves. After all, when they were younger, they were forced to learn all the dances together so they already knew the steps.

"Albel are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she inquired with a sly grin.

"Depends, are you thinking about throwing the large maggot out the window or leaving his torn limbs in the principal's car?" She slowly faced him and gave him a dead pan stare, "No? Well then I guess not."

"We can use Glyphian war dances to synchronize our fighting skills," she said, earning a skeptical look from him.

"Oh, that…you were just now figuring that out?"

The skin under Nel's eye twitched before she turned her gaze to the others, "Fayt! Want to be my dance partner?"

"Huh?" he looked up in confusion, "Um, sorry Nel, but I already got a-"

"No you don't," Sophia cut in. She was sewing something in the corner of the auditorium, "I'm trying to finish this before next period, go pick someone else."

"What is that?" he inquired, eyeing the familiar fabric.

"It's Mirage's dress. I'm modifying it so it can fit Peppita."

"Well Fayt?" Nel prodded. Fayt looked over her shoulder and saw that Albel was glaring daggers at him.

"I kinda want to live…" he said in a meek tone.

"Pardon?"

He started sweating under Albel's gaze, but didn't know of any way to turn Nel down. Suddenly he saw Maria in the corner of his eye and rushed over to her.

"Maria, will you be my partner?" he asked in a desperate voice as he grabbed her hand and held it in both of his hands.

"Uh…s-sure," she stuttered in uncertainty as she glanced at their hands.

"Nice try, cerise, but it seems that you're stuck with me," Albel said as Nel groaned in frustration. Farleen eventually returned with an armload of miscellaneous CDs and complained about how she couldn't find the correct one. By the time Steeg, Marietta, and Maria joined the search and found it, the bell rang, signaling that class was over.

"Hey, Sophia?" Mirage began as she approached the brunette.

"What is it?"

"Why are you making a dress for Peppita?"

"Oh, no reason," she replied with a cheerful face.

* * *

"Oh-no! Where is it?" Peppita whined as she searched desperately through her locker, "Why did it have to go missing _before_ Theater Arts?"

Roger was standing near a staircase, trying to look up girls' skirts when he heard the young actress's plight. It was lunchtime for him, meaning that he had a lot of free time because he always ate his lunch during class. The free time left him bored today so he decided to go pester Peppita despite the five foot restraining order she enforced since the beginning of the school year. By the time he was close enough to her, she was walking back and forth with her hands getting tangled in her hair as she tried to remember when she had last seen the item she sought.

"Hey Peppita, what'cha you looking for? The tissues you stuff into your so-called bra?" he teased. She didn't seem to hear him as she continued to pace past him.

"Oh-no, oh-no, oh-no! What to do? I can't go home until I find it! Ursus would be very sad to see that I lost it!" she glanced down and finally noticed Roger was there, "…Oh, hi Roger. I don't have time to play with you, so go away."

"What are ya lookin' for?" he asked curiously.

"My locket. The clasp is a little loose so it must've fallen off earlier today," she explained as she started sifting through paper in her locker. Roger's eyes widen as he thought about the shiny object he found this morning. Maybe it was hers.

"Um, what does it look like? You know, in case I run across it."

Peppita pulled herself out of her locker. She looked as if she wanted to cry, "I-its silver with aquamarine colored rhinestones and you can't open it because it's stuck."

It was the same description as the thing he had found. He grinned inwardly as he thought about his recent good luck. If Peppita really wanted it back then she would be willing to pay maybe five months worth of allowance for it. His get-rich-quick scheme was finally going underway.

"Oh really…," he said as he carefully dug around his back pockets for the small trinket, "And how much are you willing to pay-"

Roger couldn't finish his sentence as a loud excited gasp escaped from her lips the minute her locket was in sight. Before he knew it, Peppita's arms wrapped around him and used the distraction to grab the piece of jewelry out of his hand.

"I can't believe you found it! Thank you so much!" she shouted gleefully as he struggled to get out of her grasp.

"Ah! Cooties!" he screamed in pure terror, but then ceased all movements and sounds when he felt her lips press against his cheek in a big kiss. Once she let go of him, she slipped the necklace back on, this time making sure the clasp would hold and then skipped off to the High School. Roger was frozen to the spot with a hand on the cheek she had kissed. A big dopey smile slowly formed on his face in a matter of minutes. He stayed like that even after his two companions arrived from the cafeteria.

"Um, Roger? Are you okay?" Dribe inquired as he waved his hand in front of Roger's face, but received no response from the Menodix. Melt examined his features carefully as he deduced what the problem could be.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he's in love," Melt replied before Dribe erupted in laughter.

"Roger in love? Yeah right! As if _one_ girl could keep his attention for more than ten minutes!"

"I don't know, but it's safe to assume that whoever did this to him is from the Jr. High because 1. All the girls in High School often mistake him for a rat and 2. He was just fine last period."

Dribe calmed down and focused on their 'leader', "So how long is he going to be like this?"

"I-I'm not sure. I have never experienced this before so I have no clue. We should probably carry him to class though, we don't want Lucien to take advantage of him while he's like this," the young boy said as the other sighed.

"_Again_? …At least he's practically comatose this time. I don't want a repeat of last time when he treated me like a pack mule."

"Indeed, that was a most uncomfortable pastime."

Back at the High School, Peppita was in for a surprise as she entered the classroom. Sophia had a beautiful blue dress made just for her. But before she could try it on, they had to wait for the lecture and the acting exercise to be over. The dress fit nicely and showed off her developing curves. It was short sleeved and came down to her knees, but the material was thick enough for autumn weather. Once Peppita packed away the clothes she was wearing before into her book bag, Sophia then undid the pig tails and brushed her hair. She appeared much more mature with her hair down and made her looked even prettier with the dress and locket. Before the girls knew it, it was time for Peppita to return.

"Thank you so much for the dress Sophia. Bye!"

"Your welcome and bye!" Sophia called to the young girl's retreating form. She was afraid that Roger would have sold the locket when he found it, but was glad that he gave it back to Peppita. It was hard work getting the necklace off of her with out her noticing, but at least it was easy to get him to find it.

A smirk appeared on her features as she got ready to leave the classroom, "Nel is going to be so happy if she ever found out what I did for her."

It was funny how a mere innocent kiss could change one's opinion of another person as Roger found out. He couldn't stop thinking about Peppita after that moment and all his thoughts made him feel …well he couldn't describe how he felt, but he was sure that he never felt this way when he thought of Nel or any other pretty girl in Aquaria and the Sanmite Republic. He soon began to believe Melt's words when he informed him of what happened earlier. Maybe he really was in love. Peppita _was_ rather pretty and chances were she'd get even more beautiful as she grew older. But there was more to it than just looks, she was the only girl who had ever helped him out when he was in trouble and of course the only one who had ever kissed him (even if it was on the cheek). With those thoughts in mind, Roger set out from class, determined to ask her to be his girlfriend.

But as he traveled to the double doors that she would be entering through, he began to have a few doubts. What if she didn't like him? What if she turned him down? Wait, he shouldn't be worried, he was a ladies man! Or so he believed. Suddenly, the new and improved Peppita entered the school, catching the eye of many boys, including Lucien, much to Roger's displeasure. He was almost frozen to the spot at the sight of her again, but remembered that he needed to move fast before someone else tried to take her away. He quickly leaned against the lockers and acted cool, thinking it would surely catch her attention. It only resulted in failure as she passed by, completely oblivious to him.

Roger was far from ready to give up. He ran ahead of her and then tried flexing his non-existent muscles, only to have her not notice him again. Peppita turned a corner and was about to enter another classroom when something whipped past her and opened the door for her.

"Ladies first," Roger grinned as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh, thanks pipsqueak," she responded. The Menodix fumed from the 'pipsqueak' comment before she backed up and added, "Oh and thanks again for finding my locket. I owe you one."

He lowered his ears and swished his tail back and forth slowly as a blush appeared on his cheeks, "Well there _is_ something that I have in mind. Would you be interested in going out…" he paused when he realized that she wasn't there anymore, "…with me."

"So did ya ask her out?" Dribe inquired excitedly as he and Melt suddenly appeared from behind. Roger immediately put on a macho façade.

"Nah, I'd thought I'd make her wait a little. I can tell she really digs me."

"She didn't even know you were there, did she?" Melt intervened, making him glance away

"Shaddup, moron."

* * *

Lunch was quiet. No insults, threats, or plotting went on as everyone watched Fayt attempt to each his lunch. He had his fork up in the air with no food and brought it up to where it hit him in the cheek. It was like his mind was off in a distant world somewhere. There was also a large, happy grin on his face that only raised more questions between the others. Suddenly Fayt jolted like he had just awakened and glanced around the cafeteria.

"I got something I need to take care of, see you later guys," he announced as he picked up his tray of uneaten food and left.

"Okay, that was odd," Cliff commented once the blue haired boy was put of hearing range, "I wonder what's up with him?"

"He's acting like he found the love of his life," Nel pointed out before Sophia let out a small smile.

"Really? I wonder who's the lucky girl," Mirage replied as she started eating her lunch.

"Oh, I know who Fayt likes," Sophia said while staring pointedly at Maria. But before anyone could ask who it was, she dismissed herself by adding, "I got to go too, I want to go catch up on the work I missed in Home Economics."

"Oh, so then it must be Maria." Maria immediately snapped her attention to her brother.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because she was lookin' at you when she said it."

"I think she was talking about herself," she muttered.

"Why can't it be you?" Mirage questioned, "You're attractive and you and Fayt seem to both like video games."

"How did you- Cliff did you let her read my diary too?" she yelled angrily.

"I had to. Someone had to take over when I'm busy," he explained as his sister's eyes narrowed at him.

"Take over what?" Maria didn't like the sound of it one bit.

"People are paying big Fol to ask simple questions about you that only you or your diary can answer," he said as he pulled out his wallet that was filled to the brim with money.

"You're telling people my secrets?" she cried as she shot up from her seat.

"Calm down, Maria," Mirage whispered soothingly, "We only answer small questions like what your favorite color or food is and the customers only come once…except for Lieber."

"Ah, yes. Our best customer," the blonde teen chuckled in a mock evil tone.

"Luther even came around to ask a question, but then Cliff told him to go away," Mirage continued.

"Luther?" she asked in surprise, "What did _he_ want?"

"I dunno, something about a favorite flower, but I didn't listen. His money was no good since it was obviously stolen," Cliff replied, "But on the bright side, I haven't told anyone that you have a crush on Fayt."

"_You_ have crush on Fayt?" Nel inquired wide eyed. She never knew this before. Why was she always the last one to know?

"Okay, except for Nel and Albel," he admitted sheepishly.

"Alright! Yes, I have a crush on him, is everyone happy now?" Maria grumbled as she sat back down. Nel smirked before it turned into a grin, "It's not funny, Nel!"

"I'm not laughing at you, it's just that I think that it's cute. I've always seen you as an independent person before now."

"So, when are you going to tell Fayt? He can be rather dense so I'd advise you tell him soon," Mirage suggested as Maria shook her head.

"I'm never going to tell him because he likes Sophia, not me."

"And I still think he likes you because Sophia was staring straight at you when she said that she knew who he liked," Cliff argued.

"She was probably warning me to back off because she knows I like him too," she retorted.

"I think both you maggots are wrong." Everyone stopped and stared incredulously at Albel. He only pointed at a table beside the cafeteria doors behind them. Sure enough, there was Fayt…happily chatting with Clair Lasbard.

"Clair? Clair doesn't like him that way!" Nel responded as she glanced at Albel.

"No one indicated such," he replied with a shrug of the shoulders, "The worms were bickering on who the fool liked and it appears that he likes her."

"But he can't!" she argued.

"You don't have much say in the matter, cerise."

"I'm just saying that we may be jumping to conclusions. Maybe he was just asking her a question."

"And obviously enjoying her company as well," he retorted.

"Well I enjoy your company but that doesn't mean we're-" Nel cut herself off with a blush. She had said too much. Everyone glanced at her with tiny grins as Albel raised an eyebrow, patiently waiting her for to finish her sentence, "Erm, scratch that, I-I don't enjoy your company at all! Um, don't we need to leave early so we can start training for the I.S.F.T.?"

He only let out a wicked smirk in her direction as she arose from her seat. He got her to admit something she never wanted him to know without even trying. Soon they both headed out with a cherry faced Nel in the lead, leaving the others to continue their squabble.

"Well, let's say that Nel is right, either way, it still means that you are a likely candidate to be the object of Fayt's desires," Mirage replied before Maria glared at her.

"And I'm still saying that Sophia and Fayt are together!"

"Who said that they were?" Cliff inquired with a curious face. Maria then remembered that neither Fayt nor Sophia ever said that they were going out. And Sophia never actually had said that she liked Fayt or that Fayt liked her. But they sure did act like they were very close so it was natural for one to assume that they were a couple.

"No one had to! It's obvious just by looking at him," she snapped.

"Really? I haven't noticed," he muttered with a shrug.

"I don't mean to switch sides, but you have a tendency to not notice things," Mirage responded as he sat up from his previously slouching form.

"Hey! Don't tell me you believe her now?"

"No, I still think that Fayt likes her and that she should go tell him."

"Ugh! You guys are so stubborn!"

* * *

WARNING! I'm about to speak blasphemy: If Albel can't be paired with Nel, then out of all the odd couples, how come no one ever thought about pairing him with Mirage? She's a strong fighter too (though she may be too calm and collected for his taste). WHY IS MIRAGE SO NEGLECTED? …And now I shall speak of this no more. Nel belongs to Albel whether she likes it or not and Cliff and Mirage are practically an item. THE END! (…of the author's note, not the story)

Anyway, I'm off to see my sketchpad! I have another drawing in the works. C ya!


	11. Mandatory School Assemblies of Doom

Before I start the story, I want to point out a certain scene near the beginning of chapter 8. I would have thought someone else would have pointed it out (because I know there are a few dirty minded people reading this). After the part where Albel and Nel nearly got caught eavesdropping on their dads, Albel wasn't angry when he stormed off, in fact he really needed to use the bathroom due to a certain …problem 'downstairs.'

This psycho doesn't own (insert video game title) or any of its characters. She also doesn't own (insert favorite blue haired character) and (insert the perfect pairing to favorite blue haired character).

Chapter 11

The week went by fast with nothing out of the ordinary, save for Fayt's unusual disappearances before class. It was already Friday and everyone was eagerly awaiting a fun filled school day…Yeah right.

"Maria! Wake up! It's your turn to go first," Cliff shouted as he shook his sister awake from Fayt's shoulder. During most of the week, they had done a pretty good job avoiding being last off the bus, but it seemed that they were unusually late today.

"Cliff, it's nobody's turn. You make it sound like we volunteer to get hit in the face," Fayt scolded as he sat up.

"Why don't we just go ahead and skip to plan B? That way we'll get out sooner," Sophia suggested in a sly tone. Roger hadn't shown any signs of a crush on Peppita, though he had stopped stalking Nel. She wanted one more test done before she took things to the next level. Nel's sanity depended on this because although Roger had stopped stalking her, he was still trying to annoy her. Or was he trying to annoy Albel?

"Good idea," Cliff agreed, not catching the tone in her voice, before he pulled down the window, "WOO! GO NEL! TAKE IT OFF! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD THE SAME CUP SIZE AS MIRAGE!"

Everyone glanced at the Menodix and nearly died of shock when he didn't react at all. He only sat there and stared back at them. Sophia couldn't help but notice that he was staring more at Peppita than anyone else. Speaking of the actress, she now wore her hair down more often and was catching the eye of a few high school students. If Roger didn't hurry, he may not ever have a chance to be with her.

"Um, Cliff?" Maria started as she stared out the window, "I think Mirage heard you."

"Oh crap!" he exclaimed as he ran down the aisle to beg for mercy. Suddenly he screeched to a halt halfway to the front, "Wait a- …Nice try Maria, you almost got me with that."

"Darn it!" she pouted as Fayt and Sophia chuckled.

"That _was_ pretty good though," Fayt complimented as he touched her shoulder. She glanced away and slightly blushed at the contact.

"So now what?" Sophia wondered. She was happy that Roger didn't care about perverted things anymore, but she was starting to regret that there was no one to trick into going first. No one seemed to notice that Peppita was getting more frustrated at both the hold up and the fact that no one was listening to her when she volunteered to go first.

"Okay! Fine, don't listen to me!" she shouted in a grouchy manner, "I'm leaving, excuse me Sophia."

She brushed past Sophia and met no resistance from Cliff as she marched to the front. There was an evil glint the bus driver's eyes as he saw her coming through the rear view mirror.

"There goes one brave circus freak," Fayt muttered as he bowed his head respectfully.

"Circus freak? I thought she was an actress?" Maria said with a brief glance at the blue haired boy.

"It's gotta be the same thing, after all, Sophia's one of them."

"Meanie!" Sophia snapped as she whacked him in the back of his head. Roger held in a rather unmanly whimper as he watched his current crush head towards her doom.

"Peppita! No!" he yelled desperately before he ran under everyone's legs and jumped in front of her as the bus driver slammed the door shut.

"YES!" Sophia cheered as the young actress blinked down at Roger. Everyone glanced at Sophia before she began to run to the front, "Wait till I tell Nel about this!"

Peppita took pity on the Menodix and helped him off the bus as Sophia approached. Once they reached the ground, Peppita heard a strange sound and looked behind her to find the bus driver was still gripping the door lever.

She gasped, nearly dropping Roger in the process, before warning, "Sophia! Watch out!"

The unfortunate victim squeaked as she brought her arms up before the double doors came charging at her. She managed to shield her face from the blow but the impact made her fall back into the staircase.

"S-Sophia!" Fayt called out before he rushed to her side, pushing Cliff out of the way as he passed him.

"Hey!"

Maria watched as Fayt helped the brunette up before she turned away. It hurt to see them together like that. She was so disoriented at the moment that she didn't notice that Cliff had stopped in front of her and leaned against the back of a seat.

"Hey," he called out softly to catch her attention, "Don't misread the situation. I used to run to help you when you fell down and got hurt too."

"But you're my brother, you're _supposed_ to care," she reminded him.

"Yeah and so is the sister, but you don't seem to care about me much," he replied cynically, "Besides, what makes you think that Fayt's feelings for Sophia aren't similar to my feelings for you."

"Because they're not related," she responded bluntly.

"Yeah? Well neither are we if you wanna get technical." Cliff wandered away to let her think over his words. He knew when he was not needed. If she didn't want to be reassured, then let her suffer.

Maria was surprised at Cliff's words. Either he wasn't as much of an idiot as he let on or Mirage told him to say that. She had never thought of it that way though, maybe Fayt and Sophia did share a sibling bond. But then again, why does Sophia cling to him like that? Maria was never that close to Cliff. Maybe it was Sophia trying to catch his attention and start a relationship. If that was the case, then maybe Maria still had a chance in getting Fayt to notice her. Maria shook her head and followed the others out. She was trying to get over him, not trying to win his affection. Nel had mentioned that she was an independent person and she was happy with that kind of life before the bothersome feelings appeared. Plus, Sophia was a good friend to her; it would be wrong to go against her like that.

The bus driver decided that two victims were enough for one morning and allowed them to leave peacefully. Fayt kept his arm around Sophia to make sure she was still able to walk, resulting in Maria glancing away from them again. Once it seemed that the brunette was going to be okay, he backed away and fell in step with Maria.

"Great," Fayt muttered near her ear, "Now Sophia is _really_ going to get brain damaged at this rate."

Sophia was rubbing the back of her head when she heard that and turned abruptly, "Hey!"

Maria giggled before she remembered why Sophia was rushing to get off the bus, "What were you going to tell Nel?"

"I was going to tell her that Roger has a crush on Peppita now, but then I remembered that I set them up as a birthday present for her. I should probably wait to tell her on her birthday," Sophia explained.

"Nel's birthday…?" Maria froze, "Nel's birthday is next week! We don't have any gifts for her yet."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. So who's gonna hang out with her this year?" Cliff wondered while casting a look that said 'if you pick me again, you're going to regret it.' With Nel being the daughter of a spy, someone had to distract her so the others could buy her gifts to surprise her. It was a difficult task to watch her and if you didn't do well, then on the day of her party she could name the gift before she opened it and not be surprised.

"Actually, Albel has already taken care of that. He's taking her to some concert tomorrow," Sophia replied as Maria raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Oh really? How did you convince him to do that?"

Sophia's eyes widened at the thought before she held out her hands in defense, "Don't look at me! I had nothing to do with it. The tickets were Albel's present for her."

"…The only concert happening tomorrow is the Nuclear Crucifixion concert in Kirlsa. I never figured that they were heavy metal fans," Fayt commented as he gazed at the sky.

"Heavy metal?" Maria echoed in surprise before her voice darkened, "So Albel was the one who poisoned Nel with that crap…"

"Here we go again." Cliff rolled his eyes. This happened before when they first discovered Nel's love for heavy metal, "Let it drop. You can't tell people what to like."

The pop singer calmed down as she thought it over, "You're right…If I left things alone, then maybe Nel could convert him. He should be really good at the electric guitar."

"Maria, it would be a hot day in Airyglyph before Albel would join the band," Sophia muttered dryly.

"In the words of Mr. Wicked himself 'well said, fruit, well said'," Cliff chuckled at his Albel imitation.

"Cliff?" Fayt pointed above them. No one realized that they were already next to the front staircase and when Cliff glanced up, he met the furious ruby gaze of Albel the Wicked.

"Watch your back, maggot. I will deliver a swift demise to your pathetic life if you keep it up."

"Yeah, yeah," the blonde teen shrugged as he trudged up the stairs, "You'd think with all those big words you know, you'd come up with better names to call people."

"I don't call people names, maggot. I call them by what I classify them as," he growled. Suddenly it all made sense to Nel.

"Oh I get it now," she said as she crossed her arms, "People he consider to be extremely annoying and stupid are called 'maggots' and 'worms' are for people who are just stupid."

"And what are 'fools'?" Fayt inquired with a grin.

"I think that's for people he's not sure about. Or maybe they are for people who are just ignorant…" she guessed with a shrug.

"So that's why he teases you with the name calling crack every time you use his words against him," Mirage smiled as Albel huffed and faced another direction. He hated it when others talked about them. They sound like they were making fun of him.

"Exactly, and now I have a classification for you, Nox: you're an asshole," Nel said as she poked him in his back.

"That's very original, cerise," he replied sarcastically.

"What does 'fruit' mean, then," Sophia inquired as she stood beside Nel.

"I don't know, that one is fairly new."

"They are people who may go missing," Albel sneered as he glared at the brunette. Sophia gulped and backed away.

Nel soon realized that Albel was more hostile towards Sophia than to Cliff. Maybe she knew some secret of his or he was afraid she would find out a secret. She was good at that. If Albel was nervous to be around Sophia, then Nel briefly considered hanging around her more often. Nel fixed her gaze back on the crimson eyed teen to ask one final question, "And let me guess, 'cerise' is a word for people you want to remain angry?"

"Actually, I think it's his pet name for you."

"SHUT UP, FRUIT!" Sophia squeaked and then hid behind Fayt. Cliff sniggered before he walked over to them to give the girl a high five.

"Good one, Sophia. You got a nice reaction from him with that one!"

"Uh, I don't think she's going to move for a while," Fayt said as he tried to glance at the trembling girl. Albel, clearly angry at the remark, stormed off inside. Mirage watched on with a grin until he disappeared into the school.

"_Really_ nice job, you got him to blush."

Nel blinked at her, "You mean she got him angry."

"No, he was blushing," she reassured. Sophia finally gained some courage to peer over Fayt's shoulder.

"I hit the nail on the head, didn't I?"

"I'll say," Maria commented with a proud smirk, "You deserve a treat for that, come with me to my locker."

"You guys…" Nel sighed tiredly as everyone headed inside. She refused to believe that he was blushing. It had to be anger, which means she will be on the receiving end when he vents it out later, "…Sophia, I can't tell if I want to use you or destroy you…"

* * *

Maria led Sophia to her locker for some rock candy in Sophia's favorite flavor. Maria was proud of her for making Albel blush. She was still bitter over his influence over Nel's choice in music. But there was another reason why she had called Sophia out here. She really didn't want to admit it, but she wanted to get Sophia away from Fayt.

"Maria? Do you think he was joking about the 'people going missing' thing?" the somewhat evil matchmaker asked nervously as she followed her best friend.

"I'm sure he wasn't serious. I mean, Nel wouldn't let him harm you, especially not after she hears what you did to Roger."

"I hope so…there are so many people I haven't set up on dates. I'm not ready to die yet!"

Maria chuckled as she rolled her eyes. When her locker was in sight, she opened the door and was suddenly bombarded by the sight of a beautiful bouquet of white irises. Her book bag fell off her shoulder as Sophia held her breath in shock. It was the middle of autumn. How could anyone find flowers that grew in the spring?

"Oh how pretty!" Sophia breathed, "Who sent them?"

Maria finally moved to look for the card, "…From…my secret admirer?"

"They must be from someone who pays close attention to you, because only Cliff, Fayt, and I know that irises are your favorite flower."

Or they could have asked Cliff or Mirage since they still had her diary. But then again, she never mentioned her favorite _anything_ in her diary. Wait, Mirage said that Luther asked about her favorite flower. Could he…? Nah, Cliff refused to tell him anything and he couldn't possibly know what her favorite flower was out of the blue. Could Lieber have done this? She had been so careful to make sure he didn't know her locker number and there was no way he could have followed her without her knowing.

Her heart fluttered at the thought that Fayt could have done this, but that was wishful thinking. In fact, Fayt just passed them without so much as a glance in their direction as he headed towards Clair's classroom.

"Sophia, do you know who could have done this?" she asked desperately.

"Not a clue… I'll start investigating immediately. All I know right now is that this mystery man is very charming and must be cute at least. Most homely guys wouldn't have the confidence to leave flowers, even anonymously."

"I just hope he's not another creepy stalker like Lieber," Maria shuddered as she grabbed the watermelon flavored candy and gave it to her companion, "And now that I mention it, this will also be payment for getting Lieber to fall for someone else like what you did to Roger."

Sophia sweat dropped nervously, "I'm not a miracle worker, but I'll see what I can do."

* * *

"Cliff."

"Yo momma."

"…Go to the office."

"I was just kidding! Jeez!" Cliff laughed as Clair rolled her eyes.

"Mirage."

"Hier."

"German, got it," the teacher's aide replied in a bored tone.

"Sie werden immer besser, Frau Clair (You're getting good at this Miss Clair)." 

"Thanks…I think. Fayt."

"Here ma'am!"

"Good…" Clair continued down the list and found everyone present, "…Fayt, could you stay behind after class for a few minutes? I'll write you a pass to your next class."

"Sure Clair," he replied enthusiastically. Everyone gaped at him in surprise. Only Nel called Clair by her first name and that was because they were good friends. No one could really question Fayt about the subject while the young teacher's aide was present so they could only let it go.

Nel decided to study for Count Noppen's make up test and pulled out her book to read, but was interrupted when a paper wad hit her on the nose. She instantly glared at Albel and found him writing on a piece of notebook paper, but she still caught the smirk. She smoothed out the crumpled piece of paper and found a note inside.

It read, 'I told you they were having an affair.'

Nel growled and pulled out her pen, 'They are not! Fayt has been asking her a question and she probably has the answer to it now.'

She re-crumpled the paper and threw it at him, hard. Only Clair looked up at them and blinked as Albel read over the contents, wrote a response, and threw it back at her even harder.

'How do you know that? You only made an assumption and there is no proof that it was true.'

'And how do you know they're having an affair? Have experience in the area? No wonder you moved to Aquaria.' This time it hit him in the eye. He narrowed his eyes at the words on the paper before he wrote down a reply and aimed for her ear. Clair was turning red from holding back her laughter as everyone else surprisingly remained oblivious to the paper argument.

'Don't take your anger out on me. It's not my fault that your best friend has a boyfriend and you don't.'

"Why you…," Nel muttered under her breath. Albel caught the note before it could hit him in the face.

'Maggot! I'm not jealous over something like that! Besides, there isn't anyone attractive around here to consider going out with.'

She wondered how he would respond to that. Would he be offended that he wasn't excluded from the 'not attractive' comment? Now that she was paying attention, she was able to catch the next note as easily as he did. What she read made her furious.

'Name calling again, cerise?'

'Oh, I'm sorry. I meant to write asshole!' She opted to get up and stuff the note in the back of his shirt over throwing it at him again. Only Clair watched on as he squirmed around in his desk to get the paper wad out. Once it was in his hands, he smirked. Albel didn't bother to reply to it. Instead he leaned over, grabbed the front of Nel's shirt and stuffed the wrinkled paper in her bra.

This time everyone noticed Clair when she let out a sound similar to releasing her breath and a chortle as she fell out of her chair. Nel's face was the same color of her hair as she slapped Albel across the face. The students in the room didn't understand why Nel had done that, but Cliff managed to put two and two together when he caught a glimpse of Nel pulling a piece of paper out of her cleavage.

"So Albel…What color was it?" he inquired casually as the dark teen smirked.

"Black and lacy."

"You are going to be dead 5th period, Nox!"

Clair crawled back into her chair when her breathing calmed down, "Okay, settle down. I don't want any fights within the classroom."

"Attention all students and teachers. I have an announcement," Lasselle's voice boomed over the loud speakers.

Suddenly Steeg raised his hand, "Miss Clair, can I go see the councilor? I'm hearing voices in my head and he sounds like a real idiot."

The class erupted in laughter before the principal continued, "All classes are canceled for the mandatory assemblies. As an added treat, we will be having the 'Don't Drink and Drive', the 'Be Cool and Don't do Drugs', and the 'Practice Abstinence and Avoid STDs' assemblies all in one day to get them out of the way. If they are done before the final bell, then we will have an early dismissal. That is all."

"So what, if they are not done by the bell, does that mean we have to stay after school?" Maria wondered before the door opened and Coach Adray came in.

"There isn't enough chairs in the auditorium for the whole student body so I need all the men in this room to come assist me," he ordered, earning groans from most of the boys.

Why are you taking your book bag, Fayt?" Cliff asked as the blue haired boy carefully cradled his back pack and put it on his shoulders.

"I need to stop by my locker," he explained before the muscled teen grabbed his bag and placed it back on the desk.

"You can do that later."

"I guess so," Fayt agreed hesitantly and headed out the door.

"Fayt! Since we can't talk later, I'll leave my e-mail address on your desk and we'll talk about you-know-what tonight," Clair called out before he could leave.

"Okay."

Once all the boys were gone, the girls sat in silence as Nel fumed. Mirage had a plan forming in her mind. It was a brilliant plan of revenge for Nel if she was willing to do it. The results should be …amusing should she agree to it.

"Oh Nel," Mirage purred when her brainstorming was done, "I have an idea that is worse than death for a certain Nox."

All eyes turned to her before Nel said, "I'm listening."

* * *

With the task done, Cliff, Fayt, Steeg, and Lieber were playing around as they headed back to class. Albel walked ahead of them, silently cursing under his breath over the headache he was getting from listening to them. He didn't bother looking back when the group behind him suddenly got quiet. The boys were debating on who would go push Albel into the girls' restroom. Soon Lieber was shoved forward before he tried to sneak up on the quiet teen only to run face first into a locker door when Albel opened it at the last second. Cliff and Steeg started laughing at Lieber as Albel glared at them. Fayt quickly elbowed Steeg to get him to help his brother before they ran off, leaving Cliff behind. Once the prankster realized that his friends were gone, he walked past Albel to catch up with them.

When Albel reached the classroom, a seductive voice purred his name. When he found the source, his headache suddenly vanished.

"Z-Zelpher?" Nel smirked as she slowly sauntered over to him. Her shirt was slightly pushed off her shoulders to show off even more cleavage than before.

"What is going on here-" he demanded before she pressed a finger over his lips.

"Shh… Before that paper fight, I didn't know you wanted to see me that badly. You should have told me sooner, I would have loved to get some alone time with you." She trailed her fingers gently down his chest. His face reddened slightly as he backed away.

"What are you talking about, fool? It was just a joke!" he protested as his back made contact with some lockers. The red head then slid her body against his and whispered in his ear.

"In that case you should do those 'jokes' more often. I like them."

"What are you saying, Nel! You're supposed to get angry!" He squirmed when he realized he was trapped.

Suddenly he heard suppressed snickering and saw some eyes peering through the small rectangular window in the classroom door. Great, there was an audience finding this amusing. Then it all clicked in his head. It was an act so Nel could catch him off-guard. Nel softly gasped when she felt his hand on the small of her back and glanced up to find his usual evil smirk gracing his features. What's worse, his shaggy mane of hair was obscuring his eyes, meaning that she was really in for it now. Why did she let Mirage and the others convince her to do this? Better yet, how did they? She immediately began pulling away, but his arm tightened around her waist and his free hand cupped her chin.

"Now I get it," he muttered as he brought his head closer to hers. Her eyes widened as he pressed his lips against his thumb which happened to be placed over her own lips. To the eavesdroppers at the door, it really looked like he was kissing her. Fayt was so shocked at the scene that he lost his balance and fell on top of Sophia. When Sophia fell, her leg accidentally kicked out and tripped Maria, causing her to fall on top of them. After that, there was a whole domino effect and the door gave away from the sudden weight, making the pile of students tumble out into the hallway.

Albel pulled away and let out a dark chuckle as he headed into the classroom, leaving Nel there frozen to the spot, "…Foolish worms."

"That wasn't supposed to happen. He's craftier than I thought," Mirage admitted as she tried to get out of the mess. Once everyone was able to detangle themselves from each other, Lasselle made one final announcement ordering the students to go to the auditorium for the assemblies. Knowing that it would be awhile before they could even get into the auditorium, the group gathered their things and split up.

Nel, not wanting to see Albel's face anytime soon, followed Maria and Sophia back to their lockers while she grumbled about Albel. She revealed to her friends what had really happened in the hallway and grumbled more, earning wide grins form them.

"You're just mad that he didn't kiss you for real."

"Shut up worm-I mean-Maria, UGH!"

It took all of Sophia's will power to not laugh at the red haired woman's frustration. It sounded like she needed to get laid by her tormentor, "Nel, I think you have been spending too much time with Albel."

"You think I haven't tried to get away from him? I'm lucky enough that I managed to lose him right now."

"But I thought you wanted 'to get some alone time' with me, cerise."

Nel cringed and peered over her shoulder. Much to her horror, embarrassment, and secret delight, there was the Wicked One in all is arrogance. She blushed and quickly looked away before she placed her hands over her ears.

"No…no…I'm not going to talk to you, I'm not even going to listen to you-" she was cut off when she felt him pull some of her shirt over her shoulder.

"Your bra strap was showing." She whirled around to face him.

"YOU POMPOUS-!" Nel stopped herself and then stormed off when she caught a glimpse of his triumphant smirk. She had forgotten that she was not supposed to fall for his ploys to get her angry. Albel only watched her leave before he pulled out her MP3 player. He had sneaked it out of her purse when she wasn't paying attention. He proceeded to mess around with it, most likely erasing all of the songs on it, as he slowly followed his furious cerise.

The sight of the MP3 player reminded Maria of why she was going to her locker in the first place. She wanted to get her MP3 player so she could listen to it instead of the guest speakers. She left Sophia, who was finishing up her notes on Albel and Nel's last encounter for future matchmaking opportunities, and opened her locker. She was greeted by the sight of her flowers, but then found yet another gift within.

"Huh?" Maria pulled out a box of what looked like very expensive foreign chocolates.

"Another gift?" Sophia inquired wide eyed as she dropped her note pad into her purse, "Who ever he is, he moves fast and has a lot of money."

A lot of money… That narrows the possibilities down to a handful of boys, one of which was Albel, but unless the chocolates were poisonous, it wasn't likely. The other candidates were not much better and the chance that it could be Luther was unnerving. She had nothing against Luther, in fact she did think he was attractive, but the only one she actually liked was Fayt and she couldn't see herself falling for anyone else.

"That's it!" Maria shouted as she slammed the door shut. Sophia backed away before her friend stormed off.

"Where are you going?" she asked as she tried to catch up.

"To make a deal with my brother," Maria replied, successfully keeping a worried tone out of her voice.

Said brother was currently selling tickets to an after school fight by his locker when the two girls found him.

"Why if it isn't my baby sister and her persnickety friend. What brings you to this side of the school?"

Maria raised an eyebrow, "Do you even know what 'persnickety' means? Never mind… I need a lock for my locker."

"What for?" he inquired with suspicion in his voice.

"None of your business. I just need a lock," she snapped, but then added as an afterthought, "please."

"Well since you said 'please'… How much are you going to pay me?" Maria inwardly smiled in relief as she realized that she got through to him.

"I'll take 20 percent of the picture profits instead of 50."

"Ooh, deal," he said as he pulled out a medium sized lock with a key attached. He then took out a spare key to free the other one before he handed them to Maria.

"Thanks."

"Um, Cliff? I have a question," Sophia began to ask before Maria could leave.

"Shoot."

"Who do you love more? Mirage or money?"

"Mirage, duh," he answered immediately without thinking it over, "There is a reason why I'm trying to earn a lot of Fol, but that's a secret."

"I like secrets," Sophia commented before adding in a darker tone, "But I _love_ finding out the secrets."

"Well you won't have to 'cause if you promise not to tell Mirage, I will tell you this secret right now."

"Really!" Sophia squealed excitedly with stars in her eyes as Maria became skeptical.

"Is this a secret I haven't already read from your diary?" she inquired dryly, earning a sour look from him.

"1. It's not a 'diary' it's a journal. 2. No, this is something you don't know about. And 3. Don't go talking about reading my journal when I still have your diary."

"…Granted, so what is this secret?"

Cliff glanced around for any sign of Mirage before he pulled the girls closer to him, "I'm planning on using the money to buy something special for Mirage."

"Aww, how sweet!" Sophia cooed as Maria rolled her eyes.

'Something special' usually means a new whoopee cushion or a rubber chicken to Cliff, but she couldn't help but ask, "What special gift did you have in mind?"

To her surprise, his cheeks were dusted with a faint shade of pink as he bowed his head and mumbled something under his breath. What he said made Sophia gasp in shock and delight as her hands flew up to her wide smile. It even threw Maria off guard.

"W-what did you say?" the singer stuttered as she backed away.

Cliff looked sheepish as he grinned in his usual dopey manner, "You heard me. Now what ever you do, don't tell Mirage. I want it to be a surprise."

"My lips are sealed!" the brunette chirped as the troublemaker walked away.

He said that he was earning money to buy Mirage an engagement ring. Who knew Cliff could be romantic let alone committed enough to decide on a permanent relationship with Mirage?

* * *

The assembly was as mind numbing and boring as everyone had feared. Those who didn't have music players or hand held video games suffered or passed out from boredom. When the final assembly came around, the students who were 18 had the option to sign a form saying that they were not comfortable with the subject of pre-marital sex and STDs and be released early. Unfortunately, the majority of them didn't want to admit that they couldn't handle the subject and ended up staying to suffer with the rest.

As promised, they were released two hours early. The weekend had finally come. Maria stopped by her locker one last time to pick up her things. The lock was still there, without so much as a smudge on it. When she opened the door, she found nothing out of the ordinary, not even an anonymous letter. Pleased with the results, she closed the door and replaced the lock before she started to leave.

"M-Maria?" Maria turned to find a rather pale Sophia across from her.

"Yes?" The brunette then pulled out a box wrapped in shiny blue-green paper from her locker.

"There were instructions to give this to you taped to the back of my locker."

Maria hesitantly took the gift and read the card. Like all the other presents, it said 'From your secret admirer.' Apparently, this person was determined to give her this gift. She eventually stuffed the box into her bag with the intent to open it later, but she knew deep down that its future was to sit upon her dresser, collecting dust. Was she really that afraid to open it? Whatever was inside the box might be a major clue to who was sending her these things. But the question was, did Maria _want_ to know who?

* * *

I had an assignment in my psychology class where I was supposed to act out a disorder so my partner could diagnose what I had and I used my traditional 'Take over the World' Speech. After I gave my speech and got my results, I had an idea and modified my speech just for fun. Remember, this is just a joke, I'm not serious so please don't take any offence to this.

The Alnel Take over the World Speech

I, Sorceress Myst Dragonspell …WILL RULE THE WORLD AND ALL ALNEL SUPPORTERS SHALL BE MY MINIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

Under this new world order, all people may keep their religions and traditions, but I will confiscate all weapons, especially the nuclear ones so people will play nice. It will be mandatory for all people to watch Anime and have to have English and Japanese as their second/third languages (if either one isn't already their first/second).

When I take my throne in Japan I will make Square-Enix produce a sequel to Star Ocean where Albel and Nel are the main characters and there will be romantic endings for said people as well as for Cliff and Mirage and Fayt and… I dunno… Maria, I guess.

The following Alnel supporters shall earn these lands in reward for their support for the best coupling ever (Not all are listed because there are a lot of people):

darkladyxion959 – The U.S. minus Utah

IceBlueWings – Australia

Blue Persuasion – Ireland

BlueTrillum – Spain

xKuroSeraphimx – Germany

mendokuse na – ½ of China

The Adversary – The other ½ of China

NelZelpher88 – Brazil

Anarchy Sky – Greece

Shadow Chakra – Malaysia

lil-creator – Philippines

Demoneyes14 – India

Somnion – France

vox shade – Egypt

Fluffymadness – Sweden

Echoa – 1/3 of Russia

MelanieStar – Argentina

Zosocrowe – Switzerland

Kitsune-Li – Other 1/3 of Russia

Raven the Dark Angel – Poland

Harbinger Loki – Italy

Lor – Chile

The Crazy Authoresses CAT and AMS – 7 islands of her choosing

Dawn (Not a supporter, but she is still my best friend) – Canada and England (She gets England only until P.M. proves herself)

P.M.(aka Yuna) – Utah (Because I don't think she's ready for the big countries yet)

And finally, vampireprincessz (aka Rikku) – gets…NOTHING! (Because the agreement was that she would live in Japan to be a second rate psychotic body guard/human pet and get to visit Anime town everyday) Haha! Take that Rikku!

…In case you're wondering, I was diagnosed as bi-polar and manic. Good thing I'm actually eccentric and just plain psychotic, otherwise I'd be taking therapy and won't have time to write fics…if I could write in that condition. C ya next chapter!


	12. Wake Up Call

Well, I'm shocked at how many minions I have, but as I said before, it was a just joke (cough) weattacknextweek… I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING! YOU'RE HEARING THINGS! Anyway, I'm sorry it took this long to update, new ideas kept popping up in my head and there was also the horrible fact that I had to study anatomy and do statistics homework in college.

And of course, I do not own SO3 or any of its characters… (sigh) Stupid disclaimers always love making me feel bad! Eh, I'll get over it…eventually. Enjoy the new chapter:

Chapter 12

The concert was beyond all words of praise for both Albel and Nel, so asking them 'how was your weekend' resulted in incoherent drabbles about Nuclear Crucifixion …from Nel. If you asked Albel, all you would get was a glare and no answer. But there was another event during the weekend that neither one would ever want to talk about again. It had resulted in making Nel moodier and more prone to heated arguments with the Wicked One during the week.

But before all that, it was the best concert in all of Elicoor. Nel would never want to admit it out loud, but those tickets were the best birthday presents she ever got in her life…not that she didn't appreciate the gifts given to her by friends and family. During the concert, Albel exhibited perfect behavior by staying silent. The only thing that ruined the experience was the fact that they had to have a chaperone and the chaperone was none other then Glou Nox.

Unlike most fathers, Glou did share the same love for heavy metal like Albel did, but he tended to loose sight of his objective. The minute they went back to the limo to go home, he broke out all kinds of alcoholic beverages known to Elicoor and slipped them into Albel and Nel's tea. Needless to say Glou got drunk before they got home while the teens got wasted.

The next morning, Nel found herself in an unfamiliar bed with black silk sheets and a blood red comforter. Without moving, her eyes traveled around the dark room. The black painted walls were lined with posters of various heavy metal bands. There were black drapes over the windows that effectively kept the sun out, but brought in enough light to see. She took note of the four poster bed and the chains and handcuffs that were draped all over the posts before it hit her like a slap in the face. She was in Albel's bedroom, sleeping in his bed!

Nel tried to get up and get out, but found that there was a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, keeping her close to a very warm body. Panic arose and she felt sick to her stomach as she turned to find that the body was none other than Albel himself. And, she noticed with a blush, he was shirtless and she felt his mouth latched onto her neck. Thankfully, she was still fully clothed so nothing too bad could have happened, though she failed to notice that his hands were under her shirt.

She flinched as she felt her hangover coming. She couldn't remember anything that happened on the way home, leaving her to wonder how they ended up like this. Considering that they were both drunk, she figured that he thought he was a vampire and she had made him mad. They must have passed out when he was trying to 'suck her blood'. Suddenly Albel began to stir, causing her eyes to widen. What would he do? What would he say about her being in his bed? She wanted to get out, run home, and never speak of this moment again, but he had a rather good grip on her. She did the only thing she could think of at the moment; play dead…or rather 'fake sleep'.

A sharp pain racked through his skull as his two crimson eyes slowly opened. There was a tuft of silky red hair before him, making him nearly jerk away in shock as memories of last night flooded his mind. …Well what little memories there were. All he remembered was his drunken father laughing uncontrollably as he told them that their tea contained well aged Glyphian wine, a rather potent alcoholic drink. After that were hazy visions of…him making out with Nel. He hoped that the girl in front of him had no memory of last night because he remembered saying things that he wasn't sure of.

As of late he has been feeling…happy? every time she was in his company. He also felt relaxed being with her in the precious few times they weren't arguing. He couldn't be falling for her, could he? It wasn't right! She was bossy and annoying, she was always there trying to make a fool of him in front of his family, she constantly questioned his authority, and she refused to back down when her mind was set. He almost hated the fact that she didn't cower in fear of him.

And yet…compared to all the girls he was forever cursed to know…and guys too, she _was_ a rather good friend. She did nag a lot, but at least she cared about him. Also, never before was he ever so entertained by her when he pressed the right buttons to make her face turn red and angry. All of the people he knew either disgusted him, made him furious, or both. Albel also couldn't forget the results of infuriating her. She had always been a formidable opponent to him, but when she was angry…she was quite a thrilling challenge. But her furious image didn't come close in comparison to her smile. Even the Wicked One had to admit that he liked the sound of her laughter.

Albel took in a deep breath to clear his thoughts and help him focus on easing the pain in his skull. He managed to catch a whiff of Nel's hair in the process. It smelled like her shampoo, which was, ironically, cherry scented. It wasn't long before his body relaxed from its previously tense form and his eye lids began to droop. Nel was a rather comforting woman…when she kept her mouth shut. His attention soon focused on how soft her skin felt beneath his hands. Over the course of the night, his hands had traveled under her Nuclear Crucifixion t-shirt, one resting on her trim belly, the other nestled just beneath her breast. Not only was her skin soft, but it tasted nice too…

His eyes snapped open again. Taste? His mouth was still on her neck! He slowly released the flesh he had been sucking on absentmindedly and inspected the damage. He left a rather large mark on her. Somewhere, hidden deep in his mind, was some masculine pride over what he had done, but the main thought that ruled his mind was the somewhat excited, but displeased (due to the hangover) feeling over the fact that she was going to be pissed.

Unfortunately the male pride surfaced in another part of his body, reminding him of another problem he faced when Nel was this close to him. It wasn't the first time she aroused him, making him think that he was merely lusting after her instead of falling for her. He was, after all, a young male with raging hormones so this would be expected. But if he only needed to relieve his lust, then wouldn't any girl do as long as they were willing? Why was he going after Nel?

His mind was already suffering and all the thinking wasn't helping. Perhaps he could figure this out some other time, but for now, he needed to detach himself from her before she awakened. Apris knows how he'd react if she made that sexy-er _amusing_, angry face. Albel managed to move his arms and sit up while silently thanking any existing god that she hadn't awakened. He was about to climb out of bed and hope to never mention this moment ever when his eyes trained on her peaceful features. But then they traveled down to her brea-chest to watch the steady rise and fall of her breathing…and…and…

Albel quickly and gracefully rolled out of bed before he ran out of his room. Nel let out a relived sigh as she sat up. She was amazed that he didn't shake her awake and demand an explanation. Maybe he was too sleepy to react …or maybe he was still a bit drunk. She soon became worried that his quick departure was because he was about to throw up. She remembered Mirage telling her that Cliff did the same thing when he first got drunk off of her father's secret stash of hard liquor.

The red haired teen let out a pained moan as her mind reminded her of the alcoholic abuse she put her body through last night. She soon decided that she might as well leave before Albel returned, lest a rather uncomfortable conversation arose. Once out of bed, she left his room and began roaming the halls before she realized that she had no idea where she was going. She had only been in Albel's house once before, but then he had been guiding her to his father's study to find out if Glou was hiding something.

Her worries ended when she heard a toilet flush and a door that was located just ahead of her swung open revealing a very relaxed and rather relieved looking Albel. His eyes widened, shocked to see her there as she returned an identical stare. For what seemed like eternity, they just stood there staring, neither one daring to say a word. This continued until Albel's gaze hardened and then he grabbed her wrist before storming off with her in tow.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking me?" Nel demanded as she tried to free herself from his grasp. She was having difficulty matching his quick strides and was nearly at the point of being dragged around.

"We are going to pay my father a visit." He offered no more details. Obviously he wasn't thinking anything through…though how could anyone think with such a monstrous hangover. Why bother Glou anyway? It's not like he was going to take responsibility for his actions.

Nel let out an amused snort before replying in a cynical tone, "Why? It's not like he's going to apologize."

"We're going to make him suffer by yelling at him."

"That's going to backfire," she warned, "You're only going to hurt yourself because you have a hangover too."

"I don't care as long as he regrets doing this… Besides your voice is enough of a headache, even for a sober mind," he grinned weakly.

"…You're lucky it's early morning right now, otherwise I'd have to hurt you," she sneered. Albel suddenly came to a halt, leaving Nel to crash into him.

"Watch where you're going, cerise," he growled before raising a fist to pound on the door to the master bedroom. Each knock made them flinch, but he refused to quit until a disheveled looking Glou answered the door.

"Keep it down, some normal people are trying to sleep!" Glou whined before Albel glared at his father.

"We need to discuss the events of last night," he said in a normal tone. Glou only smirked.

"What's the matter? Did you guys pass out before you got some?" Both teens paused, looked at each other, then blushed.

"…I can't believe you said that," Nel mumbled before adding in a raised voice, "What kind of father are you?"

The elder man cringed and then became offended by the remark, "What do you mean?"

"What do we mean?" Albel questioned incredulously, making sure that he was shouting, "You allowed under aged minors to consume alcohol, practically forced us to have…"

His tone kept getting louder and louder as Nel joined in the rant. Eventually they were just shouting anything that came to mind that had nothing to do with the argument when Glou started scolding them for yelling at him. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, making all three grasp their heads in pain. They peered back into the bedroom to find Karen Nox with a small handgun pointing at the ceiling. She then lowered the gun to aim at one of Glou's prized swords that was mounted on the wall.

She had the look of pure evil on her face when she finally replied, "If you three don't shut up and let me sleep, so help me Apris I'll…"

"No, no honey! We'll be quiet…just put the gun down," Glou pleaded as she cautiously approached his wife. Nel had forgotten that while Glou was the bravest and most cunning knight Gait has ever seen, Karen was the scariest being in all of Elicoor when she became angry and that alone sent the knight running. So that was where Albel inherited his evil nature…

"Good," she growled as she lowered the gun and went back to bed. Both Albel and Nel (yes, even _Albel_ was afraid) decided to retreat and attack later in the normal hours. Of course, later on Albel ended up telling his mother what his father did and she did all the work for him. Revenge was indeed sweet as the teens watched Karen use Glou as a moving target for her new rifle.

Around noon, Nevelle came by to pick up Nel and immediately knew something was amiss.

"Nel, open your mouth," he commanded in a stern voice. She slowly and hesitantly obeyed before he leaned down. His nose hovered over her mouth for a few seconds before he pulled away.

"…30 year old Glyphian wine…" his gaze turned to Glou, who was laying down on the couch with bruises all over his body from the rubber bullets, "Glou, have you been letting her drink wine?"

Albel's father, the mighty captain of the Dragon Brigade had the decency to look sheepish as he hugged a pillow closer to his chest, "Yeah, I might have let her have a …drop or two."

"How could you?" Nevelle's expression looked betrayed, almost like he was going to cry. Nel wondered if he was over reacting just a bit.

"Sorry?"

"That's not going to cut it! …You gave them well aged Glyphian wine and _didn't save any for me_?" Nel glared at her father, leave it to him to care more about liquor than the well being of his only child.

Glou suddenly smirked as he unzipped the pillow case and pulled out a wine bottle, "I thought you might say that. That's why I saved the 50 year old brew."

The red haired spy perked up, "Well that changes everything…but," he glanced down at his daughter, "It will have to wait till later because I'm sure Nel wants to go home and plan how to hide that large lovebite."

Albel had been quiet and stayed out of the conversation until he heard the last comment. He quickly glanced up before he slowly backed away and escaped to his room as Nel gave her father a confused stare.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know…" He pointed at the side of her neck, "That huge hickey you're sporting. Ah, reminds me of the times your mother and me…"

She tuned him out and headed for the nearest mirror. When she pulled down some of her shirt, she was met with a red mark on the base of her neck, near her shoulder. She was completely speechless, torn from either screaming or tracking down Albel. But above all, she was worried what the others were going to say when they saw it. She felt like she was going to faint. Sophia, Maria, and most definitely Mirage were never going to forget it when they find out.

"…I CAN'T GO TO SCHOOL WITH THIS!"

* * *

The school week went by at its usual pace, but everyone was acting unusual. Nel constantly wore turtleneck shirts or sweaters, instantly earning the attention of Cliff and Mirage. The red haired teen could almost swear that Cliff had 'someone has a hickey' senses while she was sure Mirage was seeking useful information to use as blackmail on her. They constantly followed her nearly everywhere as they tried to either get her to admit that she had a hickey or get pictures of it. Thankfully Albel was always nearby to chase them off. True they argued even more than ever since that morning in Albel's room, but she was grateful for him helping her stay away from the pranksters. He claimed that he was doing this because he was bored, but Nel figured that it was his way of apologizing for marking her…or a bribe to make sure she didn't reveal him as the culprit. 

Fayt was hardly seen anymore unless Clair was nearby, making all except Sophia and Nel suspect that Albel could have been right. It wasn't long before the troublesome duo gave up on the hickey investigation to start plotting ways to get Fayt and Maria together …That is until Sophia caught wind of it, resulting in them resuming their constant watch on Nel in fear that Sophia would tell the teachers who was responsible for the chalk shortage. Nel wasn't sure if Sophia did that because she really did like Fayt or because Cliff was infringing on the written agreement that Sophia was in charge of all matchmaking plots.

Maria was practically becoming paranoid and refused to be alone or go to her locker. She was certain that unless the person leaving the gifts was Fayt, then she didn't want to know who it was. But still…what if it was Luther? He might not like rejection… And who knows what he would do about it? It was bad enough that Cliff was on his bad side. She still had the gift, which was sitting on top of her dresser. It was only missing the card, which she had given to Sophia.

Speaking of Sophia, she had been spending her time trying to find out who the secret admirer was. She didn't even notice that Nel was hiding something because of it. Eventually, she did come across a lead and decided to ask Nel for assistance. She called her out of class in 4th period and led her to Maria's locker.

"So what did you discover?" Nel wondered as Sophia pulled out the gift tags.

"I found that out of the three cards, one of them is written in different handwriting," she explained as she held out two of the cards. One of them had legible, but somewhat sloppy writing while the other was neat and elegant.

"So you're saying that there are two secret admirers?"

"Yeah. This one though…" the brunette held up the sloppy one, "I could have sworn that I've seen something similar to this before, but I just can't place who. But anyway, the reason I have called you here was to ask you if you could identify this other one."

Nel took the well-designed tag and nearly did a double take. It looked like Albel's writing! …Was Sophia trying to play a trick on her?

"Why do you think I would recognize it?" she inquired skeptically, watching her friend closely for deception.

Big green eyes glanced up at her innocently before she answered, "Because I suspect that one of the wealthy guys wrote it and you know them better than I do."

"Well …I doubt I would know them by their handwriting …but this looks like Albel's work."

"That's impossible!" Sophia cried before examining the other tag, "…Unless he is dumb enough to go to the wrong locker, but it can't be him because he's after you! …Plus, the chocolates weren't poisonous, I ate some myself."

Nel rolled her eyes at Sophia's comment and then examined the note further. After a more detailed look, she noticed that while it _did_ look similar to Albel's writing, there was something a little off. For instance, Albel didn't cross his 't's' that way and he was also horrible at spelling. Last time she checked, Albel couldn't spell 'admirer' because he never had a use for the word.

"Now that I think about it, this style is somewhat different from Albel's," she started.

"Of course it is! Do you really think I'd ever hold any sort of feeling for that maggot?" Nel nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard his voice. She quickly turned to glare at him, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in class!"

"So are you, cerise. I just asked the maggot for a restroom break," he smirked.

"Lady Elena isn't a maggot!" she yelled as she clenched her fists. It was getting harder and harder for her to not get angry with him, but either he was being relentless or last weekend really did make her irritable.

Albel then chuckled, "Oh I'm sorry, you're right. …She's a worm."

Nel felt herself getting red in the face. How dare he call her favorite teacher names? But she couldn't focus on that at the moment because she was more infuriated at the fact that he followed her here. He was following her everywhere!

"Do you _have_ to follow me around everywhere? If you keep this up, people are going to think you're my boyfriend."

Suddenly she froze at the thought. …He couldn't could he? It would explain why none of the other girls in the school hadn't been swarming him and begging for him to go out with them. Albel gave her a look saying that he didn't care about what she had said in her outburst. Sophia had been taking notes on them again, but stopped completely during the tense silence and started chewing on her pencil nervously.

"…You're doing this so the girls would think you're taken and not bother you… Aren't you?" she nearly shouted.

"So? What if I am?" he replied in an awfully calm voice, "My father said that I had to get along with you and I didn't want female maggots trailing after me. It was like killing two birds with one stone."

"How could you?" Nel felt like she was on the verge of tears. She thought that he…that he was starting to like her. But she wasn't going to let him know that, "…What if I wanted a boyfriend? Your stupid plan works both ways you know. Because of you, boys will be too afraid to approach me!"

"Good, as if you need those maggots," he scoffed.

"How would _you_ know? You don't own me!" she sneered.

"Um, Nel?" Sophia began, hoping to calm her down, but the red haired girl didn't hear her.

"Ever think that I might have my eye on somebody? Maybe I want to have a real boyfriend instead of a pretend one! I-"

Before she could say another word, Albel grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against the lockers. His eyes held a feral, almost possessive, gleam as he leaned over her body.

"I'm not going to let you. None of these filthy maggots should ever touch you, let alone look at you." He then backed away before he began walking back to class, "I'm going back, but if you're not back in five minutes, I'm going to look for you again."

She should have been furious at his words, but she was still in shock over what he had done. When she recovered though, all of the fury returned. Who was he to treat her like his property? He was so selfish that he'd go out of his way to make her miserable just as long as it went with his plans.

"Aww…that was so sweet…well it was kind of scary and demented, but sweet," Sophia finally said after putting her things away.

"What are you talking about? That egotistical, selfish asshole is trying to ruin my life! He's even trying to keep me away from guys."

"He was jealous! He didn't want you to go find a boy because he wants you for himself," Sophia squealed in delight.

"Sophia, please. I'm not in the mood for your jokes," Nel muttered tiredly.

"What is with you?" she shouted, startling not only Nel, but a few students who were passing by, "You know what your problem is? You're in denial. You just don't want to accept the fact that the guy is practically screaming for you to notice him. …Look, out of all the girls he could have chosen to be his pretend girlfriend, he chose you. That means he chose you to follow around, to talk to, to do everything with you! Even if he made it sound like he was using you, he still must have some sort of feelings towards you." She stopped and allowed a small smile, "After all, we all know how he doesn't like being around other people."

For the second time that day, Nel was stunned. It was not often Sophia lashed out at people like that. She must have been pretty angry. Still…her words were true, but Nel still didn't want to accept them. She didn't want 'some feelings' she wanted more than that.

"You're right, Sophia," she eventually sighed, "But being a fake girlfriend isn't enough. He doesn't love me, I'm just a pawn."

"I dunno, this whole pretend thing could work to your advantage. You're guaranteed to have a date to every dance and you wouldn't have to worry about another girl trying to take your man away. Plus," Sophia flashed a mischievous smile, "you know that if you spend a lot of time with someone, you'll grow closer to them and I doubt Albel is an exception to that rule. With that said, give it a chance!"

Nel allowed a small grin as she slowly nodded, "Okay, I will. Thanks Sophia."

"Anytime."

"Now I suppose I should get back to class before he comes back again," she gave the gift tag back to her, "Sorry I couldn't be any help."

"It's okay, I'll just keep searching. See you in lunch!" Nel had started walking away but then stopped when she heard Sophia say, "By the way, nice hickey."

Her eyes widened as her hand flew up to see if the offending mark was exposed. The turtleneck was still covering it. How did she-? Nel glanced back and found that the sneaky brunette had disappeared.

The walk back to Lady Elena's room was uneventful, but the red head really didn't notice. She felt a lot better thanks to Sophia's scolding. Maybe there was a chance that Albel liked her. She was three feet away from the classroom when the relaxed feeling she was experiencing melted away into panic. There was someone else heading down the same hall from the opposite direction. …Cliff Fittir. She froze in place when he suddenly glanced up in surprise before he smirked at her.

"Oh Apris," she muttered under her breath.

"Well, well, if it isn't Nel Zelpher. It's so good to see you…alone."

Almost instantly, Nel put a hand over the area her where her hickey was and quickly ran to the door only to be easily blocked off by him. He stood right in front of the door, leaving her the option to run away or fight her way into the classroom. One thing was for certain: she was _not_ going to run away.

"Don't be that way! Me an' Mirage are only concerned about your health. The side of your neck looks a little red. It could be a rash, an infection…or maybe it's a hick-"

Suddenly the door swung open, knocking the prankster to the ground.

"The worm said for you to get back in here," said the one voice she never expected to be relieved to hear.

"A-Albel!"

He rolled his crimson eyes, "Just get in here, cerise."

She quickly obeyed as Albel glanced down at the fallen troublemaker.

"Hey," he groaned as he painfully got up, "That actually _hurt_!"

"My condolences, maggot…wait, I don't even care about you." He went back inside and closed the door.

"Condol-eh…wha? Man! Can't this guy speak English?" Cliff grumbled as he headed back to his class.

* * *

"Fayt?" Clair sighed as she stirred her cup of tea. The blue haired boy was sitting across from her, writing programming codes down in a small notebook he used to save all of his new program ideas. They were both sitting out side at one of the outdoor benches, enjoying their lunch break in the cool, but not too cool temperatures. 

Unbeknownst to the two, they had an audience. A certain boy with a recording device was hiding nearby.

"Fayt?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't keep this up…We should just stop before one of us gets in trouble."

"But Clair!" he sounded a little upset, "We can't stop now! It's gone too far…I need you."

"Fayt-" she tried to argue but he wouldn't let her finish.

"I haven't told anyone about this so it should be okay… It only needs to be between the two of us- no one else needs to know."

"…If you think we can pull it off, then I'll stay in this."

"Thank you Clair! You won't regret this, I promise!" he said excitedly, "…And when this is all over, I'll make it up to you by buying that dress for you."

Clair made a choking sound as she coughed up some of her tea, "That wedding dress in Peterny? Oh no, that's _way_ too expensive! Don't waste your money on me."

"But it's for your special day and I know that you and Adray are having a bit of financial trouble…"

"…But we're not certain there is going to be a wedding," she said with uncertainty.

"Of course there's going to be a wedding!" Fayt replied confidently, "Who wouldn't want to marry someone as wonderful and as beautiful as you?"

"Fayt, you're making be blush! …But still…you do realize that the dress costs 500,000 Fol, right?"

"No problem! If it will make you feel better, I'll pay for half of it."

"Oh Fayt! You're so great! I love you!" she then let out a small chuckle, "…of course you realize that I-"

With a small click of the stop button, Clair's voice was cut off, leaving Luther to let out an evil smirk as he watched the stunned expressions on Berial and Belzeber.

"A-and you recorded this today?" Belzeber inquired as he was the first one to recover from speechlessness.

"Yeah, it was during the lunch hour," Luther responded.

"I-isn't student-teacher relationships illegal?" Berial wondered as he righted himself back onto his chair.

"Quite frankly, I don't care as long as Maria believes that the man she thinks she has a crush on has already given his heart away to another woman."

"Heh, heh. Sounds like a cheesy romance movie, boss," Berial chuckled as Belzeber gave him a disgusted look.

"Don't tell me you actually watch those chick flicks!"

"Enough!" Luther called out to silence his goons, "Now if you thought that recording was bad, then wait till you hear this…"

He pressed the button again and soon the voices of Tynave and Farleen were heard.

"Tynave, did you hear? Clair is going to get married!"

"Really? To who?"

"I don't know. I heard the groom is this man she's been seeing."

"Oh yeah," Tynave mumbled, "I remember her mentioning a boyfriend that she had a crush on since she was in high school… So when is the wedding?"

"She doesn't know. She still waiting for him to pop the question…or get the ring, I forgot which!" Farleen giggled, the sound nearly destroying the recording device.

"Well, I'm sure she wouldn't have to wait long. I mean, what man wouldn't want to marry Clair?"

"Um…her father?" Farleen replied in a sarcastic tone.

"No, when I said 'man' I meant a human," Tynave clarified.

"…But Adray _is_ a human."

There was a slight pause.

"…Really?" Tynave sounded really surprised.

"Yeah, if he's Clair's father, then how is she a human?"

"…And all this time I thought he was just some smelly primate the school purchased from the zoo to be our mascot."

There was another pause before Farleen chimed, "Well, you learn something new everyday!"

"Wow," Berial breathed as the recorder cut off, "I thought Coach Adray was the school mascot too!"

Belzeber rolled his eyes before turning back to Luther, "So why are you trying to get Maria anyway? What use is she?"

"Maria," their leader began as he thought over his words, "…is a one of a kind woman. She is the only one who would understand me and she is very gifted in the art of moneymaking. She would be a very useful asset to my organization once I make her mine."

"But do you love her?" Berial inquired innocently before Luther sighed and snapped his fingers. Belzeber immediately reacted and whacked Berial upside the head.

"OW!"

"What does 'love' have to do with anything? I merely want her and nothing is going to get in my way. Now let's go. We need to prepare," Luther ordered as he headed out of the abandoned classroom he dubbed his 'private office'.

* * *

This was it. It was Saturday, Nel's 18th birthday. All of her friends and family got up early to prepare for this day. The servants decorated the dining room and the chefs worked diligently on the birthday cake. Soon all of the guests were seated at the table as the presents were piled on a small table off to the side. It was all ready, it was all done. Now they just needed the birthday girl herself. 

Nevelle checked his watch. She should have been awake by now.

"Well…we can't have a birthday party without the birthday girl," he sighed.

"You're right," Glou agreed before turning to Albel, "Go wake her up."

Without saying a word, Albel got up and was about to reach the door when Cliff stopped him.

"What do you want?" he growled. He had to restrain himself from calling him a 'maggot' because he promised his father that he would not be mean to Nel's friends today.

"C'mere," the blonde teen ordered before he whispered into Albel's ear.

He showed no emotion when Cliff pulled away, but he did mutter, "For once you have a good idea, maggot."

Glou faked a cough as his son left. Apparently Albel had already forgotten his promise, but decided to let it slide since he was giving Cliff a backhanded compliment. It was better than nothing…

Upstairs, Nel was having a good dream. A _very_ good dream. One that just happened to have a shirtless Albel in it. She was so engrossed in her dream that she didn't realize that it was getting late, nor did she hear the sound of her door being kicked open as Albel the Wicked entered. He crept closer to her, intent on fulfilling the dare to give her a rude awakening, but then stopped to look at her.

He was once again distracted, but this time he made sure to keep his eyes focused on her face. It was really getting annoying. He couldn't figure out why he felt strange around her, not even after a week of pondering. If anything, he should despise her. …Wait, why should he despise her? She had never done anything against him and she never had lied to him. If anything, she was a better person than all of the maggots at the school put together. But…he didn't want to have any feelings towards her. It would only play into his father's hands if he did.

He knew Glou had been trying to set them up ever since they moved to Aquios. It was probably because his mother was concerned about her only son being lonely later on in life, so Glou decided to help ease her fears. He should turn back now and tell the others that she wouldn't wake up…but he couldn't. Something in him wanted to see her fiery eyes burning with absolute fury and he didn't want to be denied the pleasure of being the one to piss her off.

Albel moved closer, this time reaching out to shake her awake, but then froze over her shoulder. Something was wrong…Nel was normally a light sleeper and the only people she didn't react to were her parents and that was because she trusted them. Like her father, she was able to sense other people's individual auras and was always able to catch people who were trying to sneak up on her. But if that's the case, how did he get away with sneaking into her room so many times? Did she actually trust him too? Then again, maybe he didn't have an aura. He recalled the times when even Nevelle couldn't detect him. Incidentally, because of the times he deceived the elder spy's senses, Nevelle called him a vampire (he was joking, of course) because they were the only creatures that didn't have auras to sense.

Though, who's to say that she wasn't pretending to sleep? Maybe he should test that theory… He moved his hand to touch her hair instead only to receive no response from her. Strange. After closer inspection, he found her to be dreaming about something. What could she be dreaming about? It must have been pretty good whatever it was. Soon he began to notice how soft her hair was. His fingers continued to run through the silky strands before the urge to smell her hair overcame him. He leaned over to bring his head closer and took in the scent of cherries.

In order to keep his balance, he moved his hand down to the edge of the bed to support himself, though he couldn't resist trailing it down her arm. But despite his efforts, he still nearly lost his balance and ended up brushing his lips across the smooth skin of her cheek by accident. Suddenly she made a small noise and rolled over to where she was closer to the edge of the bed, her back facing him. If he had bothered to listen closely, the noise she made would have sounded suspiciously like his name. He almost smiled at the act while at the same time was disappointed that he couldn't see her face anymore.

Wait a minute. _What was he doing?_ Should someone barge in and see this, his image would be ruined! He had to wake her up before anyone noticed how long he had been gone. Albel leaned even more over her bed so he could give her a gentle push off of her bed. Her body fell with a thud, effectively bringing her out of dreamland.

Her head was a bit fuzzy as she sat up. What happened? Why was she on the floor? She didn't fall out of bed did she? Nel could have sworn she heard a dark chuckle, but that was impossible…right? She didn't sense anyone else in the room. She slowly peered over the edge of her bed to find…

"No one wants to hear your wet dreams, Zelpher!" Albel smirked. Her eyes widened. How did he know? Had she been talking in her sleep? She then noticed that he was joking and stood up angrily.

"What are you doing in here?" she snapped, earning a mischievous, but _very_ evil look from him.

* * *

Everyone was still sitting quietly as they waited for Albel and Nel to come down. He had been gone for a long time… 

"Cliff? What did you say to Albel?" Fayt wondered as the muscled teen grinned.

"You'll find out. Just sit back and enjoy the show."

Before anyone could say another word, a loud cry followed by 'I'm going to kill you!' was heard. Curious, Fayt got up and went to the door to see what was going on. He ignored Cliff, Mirage, Nevelle, and Glou's warnings and peered out into the hallway. Albel quickly rounded a corner, narrowly dodging a well aimed pillow and was heading towards Fayt as Nel appeared. With fast reflexes, she slid down to the ground long enough to retrieve her pillow and resumed the chase. Before he knew it, Fayt was knocked to the ground by Albel as he shut the double doors on Nel. Just as he plastered himself against the wood, there was a loud bang that made him bounce against the doors.

"Open this door right now!" Nel screeched as she continued pounding on the door. Albel seemed to be having difficulty keeping her out, so he waited for Fayt to crawl back into his seat to make a grand announcement.

"Maggot, worms, Zelpher, and…what ever the hell my father is. I present the birthday fool!" He quickly opened both doors and moved out of the way as she fell through. Nel was able to grab onto a chair at the end of the table to prevent herself from crashing to the floor.

"Happy Birthday Nel!" Everyone shouted, making the poor girl glance up in shock.

"I give that wake up call…a nine at best," Nevelle commented as he guided his daughter to her seat.

"I don't know. It reminds me of how I wake up Karen, in fact it was an exact performance. I give it a ten!"

Nevelle glanced down at Glou, "Considering the temper on your wife, I'm quite surprised that you're still alive."

"Considering how _you_ wake up _your wife_ I'm surprised how she-"

"Not in front of the kids, you'll scar them for life." Nel's father now had a light blush as he sat across from his friend.

"You're lucky mom isn't here to hear this," Albel smirked as he took his seat next to his father.

Nel looked around and found that her mother wasn't here either. She put her anger at Albel on hold for now and asked her father, "Where is mother?"

"Both she and Karen went out to get some ice cream for us. …She also said something about not being able to tolerate large doses of male ignorance in one sitting."

It wasn't long before she remembered that her friends were here. Most of them still had a stunned expression while the others were amused by her entrance.

"Um, hi. Thanks for coming everyone." She waved nervously.

Mirage decided to ease her worries for her, "Don't worry Nel, since it's your birthday, everything that goes on in this room stays."

"Really?" Cliff queried as he stood up, "That's good to hear because I have this wedgie and it's really getting to me."

Mirage covered her face with one hand and shook her head as Cliff proceeded to pick at his wedgie. There was a moment of stunned (or disgusted in Albel's case) silence before Glou decided to get everyone's attention by clapping his hands together.

"Well, since we are all too old to play party games and since Karen is most likely on a diet, why don't we go ahead and eat some cake."

Nevelle nodded in agreement, "Good idea, plus we can get Sonya back for the 'male ignorance' crack…even though she was talking about you."

"I'm sorry dear friend, but she was talking about you."

Albel quickly lost patience, knowing that the fathers were starting another playful argument, "Cake. Now. Please!"

Some eyes widened at the fact that he actually said 'please' as Glou chuckled, "Alright! Don't get your boxers in a twist!"

"He wears boxers?" Cliff snickered as Mirage raised an eyebrow.

"It's better than wearing nothing, _Cliff_."

Maria looked up, "How would you know what he doesn't wear?"

Her answer was a smirk.

"I DID NOT WANT TO KNOW THAT!" the blue haired girl cried.

"Then why did you ask?" her brother inquired with a similar smirk.

The chef came out before anymore could be said. Nel had been embarrassed enough and decided not to talk, but when she saw what kind of cake it was, she couldn't help but shout, "Strawberry shortcake? My favorite!"

"Now if only we could get her to sing that jingle off of those strawberry snack cake commercials," Sophia giggled as the slices were passed out.

Albel didn't have much of an appetite, but he did take one bite so he wouldn't 'offend the cook' as his father would say. He then glanced up to watch the others reactions, perhaps to see if the cake was poisoned, or rather, had mass quantities of alcohol put in it. He wouldn't put it past Nevelle to pull the same stunt Glou did on him last year…

Suddenly his gaze fell on Nel as she took a bite of her cake and slowly chewed it so she could savor it. She had her eyes closed as the look of pleasure swept over her features. What was going on? He couldn't take his eyes off her! He tried to, but couldn't tear his vision away. What if someone- worse, what if Glou caught him staring at her? It wasn't long before she plucked the previously discarded strawberry from her plate and swirled it in the remnants of whipped cream. She was saving the best part for last. Her full, cherry red lips surrounded the fruit before she bit down and consumed it. When the strawberry was pulled away, a bit of the white cream managed to linger on her lips. Albel unconsciously licked his lips as her tongue darted out to capture the sugary treat. He was relieved and somewhat disappointed when she finally finished her dessert and quickly checked to see if the others had noticed him.

Everyone else was finishing up their second or third helpings and didn't seem to have seen it. Though Cliff did have a very happy look on his face as he watched Mirage construct a food catapult that should hit Fayt in the face if aimed properly.

Nevelle eventually realized his daughter was finished and cut another slice, "Do you want some more?"

"Yes please!"

Albel almost growled in frustration. He'd have to endure more torture? He forced himself to face another direction and was met with his own reflection. One of the presents was a large box wrapped in a silver reflective paper. It was like looking into a mirror. He shifted to the side slightly and suddenly had a good view of Nel digging into her second piece of cake. At least none of the maggots should catch on to what he was doing…

After finishing her second slice of cake, Sophia began to notice Albel's close attention to the presents. She elbowed Maria in the side to get her attention, but the blue haired girl was too busy staring at Fayt.

"Hey," she whispered, finally getting her attention, "Albel seems awfully interested in Nel's gifts."

"He's probably angry that she's older than him and can tease him about it," Maria replied before her attention was lost again.

"I suppose…" Sophia agreed as she studied his features. He _did_ seem a bit angry, but there was something else there… If only she had more than just a side view of him. The Wicked One soon felt her gaze on him and turned to give her the most frightening death glare that would have even Adray bawling.

"Yup…definitely angry," she whispered to herself as she looked away. He quickly turned back to the show.

* * *

By the time Nel and Albel's mothers returned, it was time to open the gifts. They all moved to the parlor and crowded around Nel on the couch. The first present was from Fayt. Nel picked up the green box and gently shook it. 

"A CD huh?" she said as she began opening it, "What kind of music did you put on it?"

The blue haired boy wasn't one bit fazed at the fact that she figured out the gift. After all, he gave everyone burned CDs of music that was usually hard to obtain, "A mix of heavy metal and pop."

"Nice! Thank you Fayt." She then grabbed a medium sized box that was wrapped in red paper. Normally she'd inspect the gift, a clear sign that she knew what was in there, but this was from Glou and everyone knew she wouldn't dare spy on Glou anymore than she'd spy on her father. It was just too impossible.

"Should I be worried?" she immediately inquired to the relaxed swordsman reclining in her father's easy chair.

"Nah, not this year. And Albel, don't expect me to go this easy on you when your birthday comes around," he responded, earning a scowl from his son.

Much like Albel, he was not known to lie, but this didn't stop her from being cautious as she opened the gift. She let out a silent sigh of relief when she found a fancy cleaning and care kit for daggers inside, "Thank you, Glou, I will use this well."

"How many times do I have to tell you? Call me 'daddy'!"

Nevelle snickered overhead, but tried to cover it up. It didn't go unnoticed by the warrior, "What?"

"N-nothing!"

"No, what's so funny?" Even Karen was biting her lip in an attempt not to laugh. Sonya had already run out of the room to let out her laughter.

"You can't even get your son to call you that and you expect Nel to?" the spy queried through a smile.

"True, but that's not funny."

"I'm pretty sure we all had the same fantasy…imagining Albel calling you daddy!" Nevelle let out before Karen clamped her hand over her mouth and Nel buried her head into the box while shaking with mirth. The others soon joined in, but stopped upon Albel's glare. He had the look that assured them that someone was going to pay dearly for this mockery of him. …Poor Nel.

"Hmm," Glou stroked his chin, actually thinking over Nevelle's words, "…Albel call me 'daddy'."

"No."

"Aww come on-!"

"Maybe we should let Nel open the rest of her presents now," Sonya interjected as she returned to the room. Maria decided to come to the rescue and picked up a small box with shiny purple wrapping paper.

"Here, this is from me." The birthday girl inspected the package, like she did with Fayt's. She stared at the little box long and hard, as if she was using x-ray vision to see into it. But considering that she could have followed Sophia and Maria to the mall made the x-ray theory seem too silly. Of course there were other ways of finding out what the gift was, like the personality of the gift giver or the weight of the materials. Suddenly Nel's eyes lit up.

"Amethyst earrings? Thank you Maria, they're beautiful!" she said as she opened the box and put on the earrings. Maria blinked several times.

"How did you know what kind of stone?"

"I have my ways." Everyone could only shrug it off.

Almost everyone in the group had an unexplained supernatural power. Sophia had her ungodly powers of discovering secrets, Mirage could find anyone's weakness, and Fayt could hack into any computer in the world. Albel was _the_ evil incarnate of Romero and Maria was the queen of 'get rich quick' schemes. Nel had her ultimate spy powers and Cliff…you don't even want to _know_ what he was capable of!

Next was a bright blue box that seemed innocent enough, but the tag clearly said 'From Sophia'. Who knows what she could have put in that box? But as she picked up the gift and shook it a little, her expression soon changed into excitement as she tore off the paper, "You're the best Sophia!"

"I _am_!" Sophia chirped in a voice that was mix of cute and mock arrogance. Nel refused to reveal the gift, especially to Albel as she poked and prodded inside the box. Fayt, knowing that Sophia and Maria shopped for presents together, became curious and leaned over to Maria.

"What did she get her?"

"A book of insults to use against Albel," she whispered back. Nel soon obtained a confused look as she pulled out a slip of paper.

"Hn? What's this?" The paper had a hand drawn picture of Roger with hearts in his eyes, staring at Peppita, "Is this the reason why after school has been so quiet?"

"Uh huh!" Sophia chimed, "I put that in there to remind me to tell you that Roger likes Peppita now. I set them up two weeks ago."

"…You mean Peppita actually likes him back?" Nel wondered in disgust.

"Well…no, I'm still working on that. But the important thing is that he is off your back now."

"Good point." She scanned for the next present to open as everyone began talking amongst themselves. Her eyes fell on the brightly colored box with ribbons. It was the same box that she and Albel found in her father's study with that mysterious bag. Could it have something to do with the mystery? Her sight sifted to Albel, who was also looking at the box with suspicion. He was thinking the same thing.

"That one is from your father and I," her mother said when she saw her reaching for the gift. If her mother knew what it was, then maybe it had nothing to do with that strange bag. Then again, both Sonya and Karen could be deceptive when they wanted to be. Naturally, Nevelle was always one step ahead of Nel, so she couldn't even begin to guess what was inside. She tore off the ribbons and removed the paper only to hide her disappointed look when she found a beautiful pair of dagger sheathes inside. They were made from the finest leather and were in the darkest shade of black. They even had little red rubies lined up in a special symbolic rune. For some reason they just reminded her of Albel, they even felt like they had the same dark presence as him and his mother.

"Happy birthday, dear," Nevelle replied with a smirk. He seen their stares and knew exactly what the two were thinking earlier.

"Thank you daddy, thank you mom, I will use them for the upcoming competition."

Before anymore could have been said or done, a very large box wrapped in reflective paper was placed in front of her. It was the same present that Albel was staring at in the dining room.

"Open this one next!" Cliff demanded happily. Nel gaped. It was the size of and average T.V. set! When she tested the weight, she found that it was no more than a pound.

"Again?" she sighed, earning a shrug from the male prankster.

"Yeah, well you know me."

She tore off the paper and borrowed her father's knife to cut off the tape. It wasn't much of a shocker that there was another box inside. She started working on getting the purple paper off the second one when Maria sighed angrily.

"So you're the reason why I couldn't find any boxes in the house. Why are you doing this again anyway? I thought it was bad practice to repeat pranks?"

"It is," Cliff admitted, "But this is different! …I used four boxes instead of six this year."

Nel froze, she hadn't reached the third box and he just told her how many there were? Something wasn't right… Still she proceeded to open the second and then the third package. The fourth one was greatly smaller than the first and seemed to be wrapped in newspaper. When she removed the final barrier and cut off the tape, she took a deep breath and placed her fingers under the first fold of the box…

As quick as lightning, she picked up the gift, aimed it at Cliff, and opened it. Before anyone knew it, a pie flew out and hit him square in the face.

"…That boy is a genius! Too bad it backfired," Glou commented wide eyed as everyone burst out laughing.

"Aw man! I thought I almost got you this time!" Cliff pouted as he dug in his pocket for a packet of gum (the good kind, not the prank gum) and then gave it to her, "Sorry, I'm a bit short on Fol right now, so here."

Everyone, including Albel, was still laughing as she took the small gift, "That's okay, i-it's the thought that counts!"

"Hey Mirage, what flavor is he?" Fayt asked as Cliff's female counterpart ran a finger across his cheek. Her lips puckered slightly at the flavor.

"Lemon meringue…without sugar."

"I had to get Marietta to make it like that so I wouldn't eat it," he replied as he wiped most of the mess off his face. When everyone calmed down, Nel realized that there was one gift left. Mirage's gift. The box in question had little pictures of Prissy printed on it.

"Sorry, I had to wrap it in my mom's wrapping paper. It was the only thing available at the time," she explained as she handed the gift over to the red haired girl.

"It's cute though," Nel said as she reached for the box.

"If you mean 'cute' as in 'butt ugly as sin' then I agree with you," Cliff muttered sourly as Nel examined the present. After a few gentle shakes she was uncertain of what was inside.

"_Clothes?"_ she wondered before it clicked. She glanced over to Mirage fearfully, "…You didn't."

Her answer was a selectively evil grin that promised much turmoil if she opened the box, "Thank you Mirage, it's lovely!"

Nel quickly tried to put the gift away, but Nevelle stopped her, "Now, Nel, you know it's rude not to at least open the gift."

"I know what it is, really! I don't need to open it!"

"Nel…" She nearly shrunk over the tone of his voice and slowly tore open the package. She peered under the lid with a blush and was about to slam it shut when an arm shot out and reached into the box. She looked on in absolute horror as Albel began pulling the item out.

"What are you hiding that has you this worked up?" he muttered before he was met with a red, see-through teddy and a matching thong.

"You're welcome Nel," Mirage smiled sweetly.

Fayt felt a nosebleed coming as Sophia and Maria giggled uncontrollably. Nevelle, Sonya, and Karen stared wide eyed at the garment still in Albel's hand while Glou had a wide grin on his face. Both Albel and Nel's faces were was red as the lingerie.

"…I was hoping you'd wear that Mirage," Cliff whined in a disappointed tone.

Albel put the garment back into the box and refused to look Nel in the eye. The box was still in her hands, but it easily fell due to shock. Apris, this had to be the most embarrassing birthday gift ever!

"This would be something I'd expect Glou to pull off," a dark feminine voice mumbled from above before the woman's hands landed on Nel's shoulders.

Glou glanced up at his wife with a grin, "Believe me, it was something I wanted to do."

Karen rolled her eyes and motioned for Nel to get up, "Come on, dear, I have a gift for you too, but I want to give it to you…," she paused to glare at Glou and Albel, "…alone."

Nel silently gulped as she nodded and followed the Wicked Mother.

* * *

Around the end of the day, all the guests went home and the adults went out to the patio for some iced tea. It was all quiet in the house when Nel cornered Albel. 

"What?" he snapped when he realized that she was following him.

"You're not going to get away with it, you know." She smirked evilly as she kept an object concealed behind her back. She must've been talking about earlier in the dining room. Did she catch him in the act? He made no reaction nor did he say anything, he only stared at her.

"…But I never seem to be able to get back at you for every mean trick or rude comment you give me…" she continued, making him confused. What was she talking about? All he did was watch her eat…and get turned on by it.

The smirk got wider, "Thankfully your mother gave me something to help me out…so now I can get my revenge for what you said this morning."

Suddenly it all clicked in his mind. She was talking about what happened in her room this morning. He said only one thing that made her chase him throughout the house with a pillow.

"_How much do you weigh, cerise? I could have sworn the whole city of Aquios_ _shook when you landed."_

He wasn't quite sure how she was going to exact her revenge, but he knew it couldn't be anything too bad, "…You know, you never did answer my question."

Her eye twitched before she pulled out a small handgun and aimed it at his head. …Yup. That was definitely something Karen would give her…His eyes widened in shock as her eyes flared in fury.

"THIS IS FOR CALLING ME FAT!" she screamed as she pulled the trigger and blasted him with a steady stream of freezing cold water. She chuckled as he sputtered and bushed back his drenched bangs, but when she saw his glare, she ran for dear life and locked herself in her room.

* * *

Special thanks to Lor for poisoning my mind with the love of Fluffy and extra ideas for this fic. The strawberry shortcake scene was originally her idea and it was too good not to use. THANKS LOR! Also be sure to check out my forum The Swordsman and the Spy for teasers to any of my or other author's upcoming Alnel fics. Till next chapter, C ya! 


	13. Dates for the Ball

I do not own SO3 or any of its characters. …You guys are so going to kill me for this chapter (grabs her Albel and Nel plushies and gets into a fetal position while sucking her thumb)

Chapter 13

Within the grand throne room of castle Aquaria, Queen Romeria Zin Emurille, also better known as Superintendent Romeria, was lost in thought. Her ruby red eyes were caught by the dancing flames of the gingerbread scented candles as the wheels in her mind kept turning. It wasn't long before she came to a conclusion and a light bulb went off in her head. The queen then turned to her advisor/high school principal of her school district. Lasselle was currently hard at work arranging which teacher had what duty. So far Tynave was assigned with lunchroom duty…no wait, Farleen should have that because her voice can be heard over food fights. Adray (Lasselle shuddered over the remembrance of that man's smell) should have detention duty. Hopefully he would be wearing his socks and gas out the troublemakers sent to him, more specifically, the blonde duo that always made Lasselle's life miserable.

"Lasselle," came the cool voice of the queen as her eyes turned away from the flames.

"Your Majesty?"

"Halloween is coming up, is it not?"

"It is, in 6 days in fact," the most hated character in nearly every story replied.

"And this grand room has not seen a celebration in months, has it not?" she continued.

"It hasn't, Your Majesty," he answered, dreading where this conversation was leading.

"Then I decree that a masquerade ball shall be held this Saturday, here in my palace."

Lasselle let out a sigh of relief. He thought she was going to suggest another wild 'maim the royal advisor' party, "Of course, that's a wonderful idea. I'll inform the castle staff immediately. …Who do you want invited?"

"I'll leave that up to you, but be sure to inform the guests who are single that they must have dates." She stifled a yawn and glanced at the clock, "It's getting late, I am going to retire for the evening."

"Good night, Your Majesty!"

Romeria paused at the door to her room, "Ah yes, I just remembered, I am coming by for a school inspection some time this week, be prepared."

Lasselle paled as the Holy Mother finally left. A school inspection? He needed to prepare for that! Just one appearance from Adray or a prank from Cliff or Mirage could make him fail!

* * *

The costume ball was quickly the talk of the town as the well-known and the wealthy people were invited. About one third of the citizens of Aquios frantically planned out everything: dates, costumes, rides, and anything else that came to mind. Shops began opening earlier and closing later as business increased. Even the bus driver was in a nicer mood because of his raise and invitation. He was invited only because he was a member of the working force in the Aquios school district. He was so happy that he let everyone off without trouble, but still tried to run over Roger and Peppita as they tried to cross the street. Luckily, Roger's reflexes had improved and he was able to pull Peppita to safety. 

"Peppita!" he shouted as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the way. Once they reached the other side of the road, the Menodix acted like he tripped and made sure to land on top of the young actress.

"Peppita, are you okay?" he asked with concern as he fought back the small blush over how pretty she looked with her hair sprawled across the ground.

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks," she replied before a blush overcame her as well, "…You can get off of me now."

Roger assumed that the blush meant that she was being shy and let out a grin, "You know…you look very cu-"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence as he was suddenly lifted up by his tail. Cliff had a mixture of a dopey and serious look on his face as he stared directly into Roger's eyes, "Hey now, the author of this story doesn't support 14 years olds having sex."

At this, Peppita's face was as red as Nel's hair. She was completely shocked and disgusted of the thought of doing …_that_… with _Roger_, "What?"

"Author? Who the heck are ya talkin' about ya moron?" Roger glared at the troublemaker. He was more confused by his words than embarrassed. He was willing to wait a few more years before thinking that far. Suddenly the Menodix caught a whiff of Cliff and the distinct smell of alcohol, "Eww! You're drunk!"

"Cliff!" Mirage called out as she ran across the street towards them. She looked like she was suffering from a headache, "Our school is over there. …Drop the rat."

Cliff promptly did as he was told and let go of the Menodix's tail.

"Hey!" Roger yelled when his bottom landed at Cliff's feet. Mirage began to pull at the muscled teen's arm when Peppita finally stood up.

"What is wrong with Cliff? He's been acting funny on the bus too."

"Oh we had a drinking contest last night and I guess he drank so much that he was still drunk when he got up this morning. Just ignore what he says. He thinks that there is some 'creator' or 'author' out there that writes stories about us and he thinks that he can talk to this person when he's drunk," the female prankster explained.

"…Moron…" Roger muttered as he headed into the Jr. High.

"Let's go Cliff."

"But what about Fluffy? He needs lovin' too!" the drunken Cliff whined as he let Mirage pull him across the street.

"Don't worry about him, he has Prissy."

When they reached the other side, they were met with an unusual sight. _Nel_ was grinning smugly as Albel glared daggers at anything that moved.

"…I will kill you…eventually," he growled as his blood colored eyes focused on her.

"Oh no, I'm so scared! What? Are you going to kill me with your ego? …Oh wait, you can't because I can get you first now!" Nel taunted as she pulled one of her Death Bringers out of its new sheath and held the tip near his nose. Now that she was 18, she was allowed to carry weapons even to school (but she had to have the blades tied to the sheath when indoors). Albel only glared more at the reminder of her new privileges, but was not fazed by the weapon.

Suddenly a smirk appeared on his face as he grabbed her wrist and pulled the blade away from him, "At least I'm not an old hag."

Nel's teeth clenched together, "I'm not old! I'm 18!"

"Sure you're 18 now, but before you know it, you'll be 19, then 20, then 30, then 40, and then…" he stopped as he grabbed a few red strands of hair between his fingers, "…that lovely red hair of yours will turn grey."

She slapped his hand away, "At least I won't have to worry about male pattern baldness!"

"Heh, heh, you two are _so_ the author's favorite people," Cliff slurred, effectively halting the argument and easily earn a few stunned stares.

"How much did he drink again?" Fayt inquired for the fifth time that day.

* * *

"Good morning Aquios High! Welcome to the 'Morning Report'! This is your host Welch Vineyard…" the perky inventor/news reporter announced. 

"…And Steeg Guadalupe," her co-host finished next to her.

"Guadalupe? That's not your last name."

"Says you. My mom said that I can be anything I want to be."

"Whatever, Guadalupe….though 'loopy' does fit you," she muttered under her breath.

"Bite me, Welch," he replied with a large fake smile plastered across his face as he faced the camera.

"Eww, no thanks. Who knows where you've been rolling around… Anyway, I'm sure you are all aware of the Costume Ball our wonderful queen is throwing!"

Steeg made a coughing sound that sounded suspiciously like '_kiss up!_' before continuing with the report, "That's right and some of the students here were lucky enough to get invited. We did have a list of those individuals, but to honor their privacy…or to further worship the fleshy moons of the principal, _like Welch_…we will not be disclosing that information. Instead, we have a small section about costumes. Marietta?"

The camera shifted to the other side of Duke Vox's classroom where Marietta and Puffy were standing in front of a blue curtain.

"Thanks Steeg." Marietta smiled before facing the camera, "I have here with me Miss Puffy and she has started a new costuming business just in time for Halloween. Tell us more about your project."

Puffy enthusiastically grabbed the microphone and leaned closer to the camera, "As you all know, costumes in the shops are selling like crazy and pretty soon there will be nothing left! So what will you do about it? Make a handmade costume? Sure…unless you're going to the ball and if that's the case, then you will be too busy to waste your time with creativity. Why? That's because you people are rich! Well I have a solution to your problem!"

She pulled on the curtain to reveal Meryl in a beautiful ball gown with a porcelain mask and Vanilla dressed up as the Phantom of the Opera.

"Just look at this happy couple!" Puffy exclaimed, earning blinks from her friends. They were not aware that they were a 'couple'

"Sure these masterpieces may cost a bit more than what you can buy at the store, but ask yourself this: Do you want to wear trash to the ball or do you want to go in style? Thank you."

Marietta took back her mike, "There you have it folks. When all of the stores are sold out, go to the girl who bought them all and buy them at an even bigger price."

"That's right," the blonde girl agreed before she realized what Marietta had said, "Uh-I mean-HEY!"

"Back to you, Steeg."

"Thanks babe," the silver haired teen winked as the camera was back on him. Suddenly Welch made a series of sneezes that sounded like '_idiot_', '_doesn't_ _have_', '_the balls_', '_to ask_', and '_her out!_'.

"Oh bless me!" she finished innocently with a hand over her chest.

"Bless you indeed," he replied unfazed, "I hope you're not still contracting the 'I'm-a-perky-whore' bug."

"Oh I hope not either," she answered as coolly as he, "But if I am, at least it's better than the 'shaft-up-the-butt-itis' that you're still suffering from."

Tynave glared at them from behind the camera, urging them to continue with the show. Steeg noticed and continued on, "Suffering indeed. …In other news, our superintendent, Romeria, is expected to visit tomorrow for a school inspection so be sure to dress appropriately and be on your best behavior."

Suddenly he obtained an evil grin, "After all, we don't want our…horrifically and utterly stupid-ndous principal to fail inspection, now do we?"

"That we do not, Steeg," Welch snickered and then pulled out a note, "I have received a note from Principal L-_ass_-elle detailing tomorrow's dress code: 'Guys should have their pants pulled up and shirts tucked in and the girls who wear skirts or shorts should have them knee length. Also, NO FUNNY BUSINESS! That means you, Cliff and Mirage!'"

"Good job Welch. I didn't know you knew how to read!"

"Shut up, man whore," she smiled sweetly.

"Well we're almost out of time, but before we move on to the last segment, I'd like to remind you to tune in next week for the top ten list of the school's most 'dumb and ditzy'. Will anyone be able to surpass Welch as the number one ditz? Find out next week." This time he earned a glare from his co-host, but it quickly melted into a fake grin.

"Now we will end this session with everyone's favorite 'Gossip Corner'!" the cinnamon haired girl began as she pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, "Today's gossip is an old love letter that never made it to its destination. …Apparently the author lost his nerve. The person who wrote this sad excuse for a letter was none other than my co-host, Steeg!"

Steeg glanced up and realized that the letter looked familiar.

"The letter reads …(Ahem) 'Dear Marietta-"

Welch was tackled to the ground before she could finish. It wasn't long before an all out fight between the two news anchors began and Mayu's stunned eyes appeared before the camera. She held up a sign that said 'Please Stand By'. Over the course of ten minutes, Steeg shouted several biting insults and twenty shockingly bad words spewed from Welch's mouth. When the sign was removed, they were sitting in their original seats as if nothing had happened, though their clothes were rumpled and there were a few scratches on their faces.

"That's all the time we have today folks, see you next week," Steeg grinned.

"This is Welch Vineyard…"

"…And Steeg Enrique…"

Welch rolled her eyes at the different name, but continued with the closing anyway, "And this was your 'Morning Report'! See ya!"

* * *

It was a rather boring day with equally boring and monotonous (or evil and scary in Vox's case) lectures, even in Farleen's SDFC. After a quick demonstration of a Glyphian war dance from Albel and Nel (at least after Nel was done threatening Albel that if he dropped her one more time, she was aiming for his balls), the violet haired teacher finally realized that the dance did not include 'dancing around a fire with paint on the face' and deemed it too hard for everyone to learn. The rest of the period was spent on brainstorming on what other kind of dance they could do. It easily resulted in Fayt and Cliff nodding off to catch up on sleep or to fight off hangovers, respectively. Unfortunately (and especially unfortunate for Cliff's hangover), Farleen would scream in their ears to get them to wake up. The group's only salvation was lunch when the upcoming ball became the subject of conversation. 

"Well my mom is forcing me to go so I have to take up the invitation," Mirage started bitterly before casting a sideways glance at Cliff, "But I'm taking Cliff as my date do it shouldn't be _too_ bad."

"Uh, yeah about that…do I have to wear a tux or something?"

"If I have to wear a dress, then yes. …But a tux t-shirt would suffice as well."

"Wait, this is a _costume_ ball, so you would be wearing costumes," Fayt reminded them.

"Oh yeah, well in that case, I'll dress up as a dominatrix and Cliff, you should wear black briefs, a mask, and a spiked collar," she grinned, earning shocked looks across the table and a frightened one from her boyfriend, "What? I was only kidding! I wouldn't even know where to find a dominatrix outfit. …they were sold out at the store where I bought Nel's lingerie…"

No one heard the last part as Cliff drowned it out with a sigh of relief. No one wanted her to repeat herself in fear of an even more bizarre response.

"Well, why not go as a werewolf, Cliff? And Mirage, put on something dark and skimpy and claim you're the queen of the underworld," Sophia suggested, knowing Mirage's love for werewolves and Cliff's love for...Mirage in skimpy clothing.

"Now that is something I could do," Cliff agreed as the female prankster thought it over.

"Queen of the underworld, eh? Sounds like a plan."

Maria, already disturbed enough with images of her brother being whipped by a dominatrix Mirage, decided to change the subject before more unneeded images came to mind, "So Nel, are you going to go to the ball?"

"Yeah…and I suppose I'll have to go with Albel," she grumbled with weary eyes cast in his direction.

"Bah, who said I was going?"

"Your parents. Don't you remember?"

(Flashback)

The Nox and Zelpher family were training in the newly prepared training field at the Nox manor while the mothers sat off to the side to read books. It had been an hour since they had all received invitations to the ball when Albel and Nel decided to take a break from their sparring session. He glanced at Glou, who was currently sparing with Nevelle and asked, "Father, about the ball, can I just stay home?"

His father was distracted at the time by trying to parry Nevelle's attack so he replied with, "Sure."

But before the Wicked One could let out a victory smirk, his mother put down her book and stared at him with her gold-hazel eyes, "I think you should go."

At this, Glou instantly said, "Do as your mother says."

"Why do I have to go? Surely there is something more productive I could do at home…like homework or training," Albel argued while trying hard to ignore Nel's snickering behind him.

"And if I let you train without having a break once in a while, then you'll end up going mad…" Her son raised an eyebrow. "…Well madd_er_. You don't want to become like me."

"Tell me about it," Glou muttered under his breath before ducking down as Karen pulled out her handgun to shoot above his head.

"But what if I do want to become like you?" Albel questioned as she turned back to her book.

"Dear boy, that's not an option. If you became as frightening as me, then you will stop fearing me and we can't have that happen."

"Tell you what son," Glou started as he put a hand on Albel's shoulder, "If you can defeat me in battle, then you don't have to go. But until that can happen, you are going and you will have to take Nel as your date."

Nel nearly dropped her washcloth when his words reached her ears, "Hey! Don't I get a say in this?"

Both Nevelle and Glou quickly replied 'no' earning a glare from her. While they quarreled, Albel weighed the chances he had in beating his father and came to one conclusion: "…Crap."

(End Flashback)

"Oh yeah…" he muttered as the memory came back to him.

"Darn it, I decided to not go because I have a lot of things to do. …I won't be able to see you guys there…," Sophia whined before she turned to Maria, "What about you, Maria?"

Maria's eyes went to the table, "I wasn't invited and I don't have any connections like Cliff…"

"Um, Maria, that reminds me…" Fayt trailed off as he tried to think of how to say it, "…I was wondering if you would be interested in-"

"Maria!" a loud, annoying male voice called out from across the cafeteria. The blue haired girl cringed before she glanced behind to find none other than…

"Leiber…what is it?" Leiber chuckled nervously as a blush swept across his cheeks.

"M-my brother and I received invitations to the ball and well…" He looked away, "Steeg is taking Marietta and I-I…that is to say, w-will you…"

"Spit it out, maggot, so we can get on with our lives!" Albel snarled.

Leiber quickly took a deep breath and closed his eyes, "Will you be my date to the ball?"

"Oh…the ball on Saturday, right? …I'm sorry, but I can't go. I have to catch up on a lot of homework…"

"Oh…I see…well maybe we can go out some other time," he muttered dejectedly.

"Uh…" Maria trailed off, unsure whether to tell him that a date with her was not going to happen or to not say anything at all and let him continue to live in a fantasy world.

But before any other sound could come out of her mouth, someone 'tsked' behind Leiber.

"Luther!" Cliff growled when he appeared. He was about to get up to possibly strangle him, but Mirage held him back by simply placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Come now you oaf, I'm not here to talk to the likes of you," Luther mumbled in disgust, "I'm here to set my cousin straight and maybe be a knight and help a lady in 'stress at the same time."

"W-what do you mean 'set me straight'?" Leiber trembled as he took a few steps away from Maria, "…I haven't done anything!"

"No, you haven't done much… After all, your stupidity is beyond your control," Luther said in a calm tone of voice. If it had been any other person calling him stupid, Leiber would have gotten mad and hit them…unless it was Maria, then he would cry, but this was Luther, his and Steeg's cousin. He had no choice, but to take the abuse because he was utterly terrified of him.

"W-what do you mean?" The poor teen shrank back in fear as his cousin's icy glare bore into him.

"It's obvious that you should open your eyes, you nitwit! Maria doesn't love you! She doesn't even like you!"

"That's not true! How would you know anyway?" he cried out stubbornly, feeling only a tad braver. His brother and Cliff would help him out when Berial and Belzeber are sent to beat him up, wouldn't they?

Luther only sighed instead of getting angry, "Think about it, idiot. If she liked you, then why does she run away when you call out to her? And when was the last time you carried on a private conversation with her?"

"She's been busy! …Besides she-"

"Asked if you were okay when you fell flat on you face in 6th grade? Big deal, that was only once and even then, she did it because she pitied you. In fact, that's probably why she hasn't told you off before."

Leiber couldn't respond to that. …Could he have been right? Did Maria actually hate his guts instead of like him? He cast his eye to the blue haired girl who up to this point stared at them with wide eyes, "Maria…is this true?"

She opened and closed her mouth several times. Sure, she waited for the day when Leiber finally realized that she didn't like him in that way, but she didn't want it to end up like this. It was true that he was annoying, but not even he should be treated like trash-and by a family member no less! But what could she say? She couldn't lie, nor could she agree to what Luther had said. He was making it sound like she hated Leiber and that wasn't entirely true.

"Of course it's true," Luther continued softly, "If it wasn't, then she would instantly deny everything I have said. Face it Leiber, you are a loser, destined to be alone…no, wait. Even you might find someone equally as desperate and pathetic as you. …That trash can over by the door might be a good match for you."

Leiber glared at him with tears brimming in his eyes. He then faced Maria, closed his eyes, and quickly muttered, "I'm so sorry for bothering you all these years. I'll never bother you again, I swear!"

He bowed and then ran out of the cafeteria before she could say anything. Luther only watched him leave with a smirk on his face as Maria stood up.

"No need to thank me, my d-"

"It's not that I don't appreciate what you were trying to do, but…you're a jerk!" Maria yelled as she pushed him out of her way and ran after Leiber. Everyone looked like they wanted to say something as the gang leader composed himself, but all chose to remain silent. …All except Sophia, who finally snapped.

"LUTHER!" she screamed angrily as she shot up from her seat and slammed the palms of her hands to the table. The force of the impact stung, but she was too furious to care, "You went too far! You didn't need to say that!"

Luther only regarded her coolly, "Dear Sophie, my cousin has been living in a fantasy world for so long. Someone had to wake him up and make him face the facts sooner or later."

Sophie… Only her parents called her by that nickname…and sometimes Fayt when he was to the point of begging for something. The name came from his lips smooth like silk and at the same time had a tone that promised danger if she continued to say another word. Hearing her nickname from his mouth caused her cheeks to burn. How did he know it anyway? And how dare he use it on her!

"Still…" she persisted in a softer tone, "You didn't need to make the boy cry. It could have been said in a nicer way and the blow could have been cushioned if I had found a girl who likes him-"

"A girl that likes him?" He sounded more amused than angry, "That would take years and even then it would be a miracle. Your methods are too slow for my taste, that's why I had to take action."

"There is a girl! I know it! Somewhere there is a girl who likes him as much as he liked Maria."

He flashed a charming grin, "…I don't think that trash can likes him."

For once she was at a loss. How could anyone be so cruel?

"You meanie! Leiber is ten times the man you are and at least he won't be lonely. You're the one living in a fantasy world because Maria will never fall for an asshole like you!"

There was a stunned silence in the lunchroom, most of the students were surprised that Sophia cursed. She had said too much, she knew it when she received his icy glare. His hand shot out to gently cup under her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Well, aren't you an innocent girl? I can see the purity in your eyes." He let go of her and then leaned across the table so that he could bring his face closer to hers in a threatening manner, "Tell me, do you still believe there is good in everyone?"

The brunette was too terrified to answer as their noses brushed against each other. By now both Fayt and Mirage looked like they wanted to strike Luther as bad as Cliff did, but held back in fear that Sophia would be hurt in the process.

"Do you know the meaning of 'why do the good die young?' Well if innocent children don't grow up before adulthood, then they die. It's as simple as that. In order to survive in this world, one must be mean. I advise you to-"

"Luther, leave her alone!"

He stopped and backed away to glare at Nel, but he soon found that the being worse than Death was glaring back at him from behind her.

"Oh, I do apologize for intruding on your lunch hour, Lady Nel and Lord Albel. I shall leave now." He bowed politely to them before he headed back to his table on the other side of the cafeteria. Sophia slowly sat back down, scared out of her wits.

* * *

"Leiber, wait!" Maria called before he could disappear around the corner. The downtrodden teen did stop, but refused to look away from the ground. 

"It's okay Maria, you don't have to pretend to be nice to me anymore. I can take a hint…"

"No Leiber, listen. Luther was wrong, I don't hate you…but at the same time, I don't like you…well not in _that_ way. You see, I've never been interested in anyone before and I've always preferred having friends rather than boyfriends."

"So you're saying that you just want to be friends?" he inquired, still looking a little heartbroken.

"Yeah, we should stay friends, after all, you're my most loyal band member."

"I am?" He seemed to be cheering up.

"Of course! You're the only one who's worked so hard for my band. You make sure that everyone knows what's going on when they don't show up, you are always there for practice, and you've practiced until you became the best drummer in Aquaria. Leiber, we have a pretty good bond already and I don't think I want to ruin it with some silly romance."

"I don't think I want to either… You're right! Let's stay friends," Leiber smiled as he shook her hand.

"I'm glad to hear that. Now can you do me a favor?" she asked as she let go of his hand.

"What is it?"

She put on a grin as she glanced at his confused features, "Go find yourself a girl who's ten times better than me and will make you happy."

Leiber suddenly looked away, "I don't think that's possible…"

"Sure it is. There probably have been a few girls who had their eyes on you, but you were too focused on me to notice."

"You think so?" he inquired with a hopeful look in his eyes, "Okay then, I'll keep watch for one. See you around, boss!"

Boss? The new title ran though her head as Leiber walked away with a bounce in his step. No one has ever called her that before. She kind of liked it.

"Oh, I almost forgot." He stopped before he was out of range, "You know the box of chocolates in you locker? I was the one who put them in there."

Maria breathed a sigh of relief. So it was Leiber, not Luther, "Is that so? Thank you for them."

"…Well to tell you the truth, Luther was the one who bought them. He wanted to give them to you with a bouquet of your favorite flowers, which I think are white irises, but he couldn't figure out what it was. I stole them from him and gave them to you, but I didn't get the chance to switch out the cards."

He then pulled out a small card from his pocket, scratched out 'secret admirer' with a pen, and wrote 'a good friend' in its place in sloppy, but legible handwriting, "Here you go, boss. Enjoy the chocolates."

"Uh, thanks…" So in a way, Luther _was _her secret admirer, but he didn't act yet… But wait, if Leiber knew what her favorite flower was, did that mean he also sent that bouquet? Unfortunately he was gone before she could ask.

Maria returned to the lunchroom, feeling like a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders. She wouldn't have to worry about avoiding Leiber anymore, nor did she have to worry about hurting his feelings. But soon she noticed something strange as she approached the table… Was Sophia crying? When she got there she figured that she was hallucinating because Sophia was smiling, albeit a weak smile, and there were no signs of tears on her face.

"So did you settle everything with Leiber?" Sophia wondered as she sat down.

"Yeah, I told him I'd rather be friends. I think he feels better now."

"That's good…"

Now that Sophia had revealed to everyone that Luther liked Maria, everyone was a little worried about her, considering that he didn't like to take 'no' for an answer. Everyone was casting worried, sympathetic glances at her…except for Albel who was already asleep due to boredom. Maria became nervous from all the stares and decided to change the topic.

"So what were you going to ask me, Fayt?"

Fayt sat up when he remembered what he was about to ask her. After a bit of hesitation, he ended up shaking his head, "Uh, nothing important…"

Sophia seemed to catch on to what was going on and began glaring at Fayt. When he noticed her, he returned the stare with equal fury.

"On second thought," he started as he turned back to Maria, "I've decided to not go to the ball and I was wondering if I could come over and challenge you to a new game I'm programming."

"Sounds fun. How about you come over around 6:00?" Maria replied, not catching the previous exchange between the two childhood friends.

"I'm good with that."

The bell rang before anymore could be said and Mirage quickly chased after the fuming Sophia. She was worried about how Sophia and Fayt had acted earlier.

"Hey Sophia, are you and Fayt having a fight?"

Her question went by unnoticed by the brunette. She only stormed out of the cafeteria while muttering, "That untrusting jerk tried to ask her out to the ball and then…-Ugh! He's so lame!"

* * *

Lasselle knew that the only way to get the students to cooperate was if he allowed a free day, but with the superintendent visiting, that would not be a wise idea. Instead he settled on a compromise. The students were allowed to have a free day as long as they pretend to take note if he and the queen should enter the classroom. Because Nel was voted 'most hospitable' last year, she was assigned to be the student representative and help Lasselle give Romeria a tour. 

This left Albel in a dark and gloomy state of…dare he say it-depression. With Nel gone, there was no one he deemed intelligent enough to talk to, no one to pick on, or anyone brave enough to bear witness as he terrified the students and teachers to the point of wetting their pants. Even though it was only 20 minutes into the school day, he was already missing her. It felt like he was back in Airyglyph high where he had no friends to speak of, but back then he was content with being alone. Curse Nel for being close enough to becoming a friend! And curse his father too since he was the one who forced all this upon him. He would have cursed his mother as well if it had not been for the fact that he was afraid that she might find out about it.

So there Albel sat, all alone in homeroom. If he was that bored then maybe he could scare the fruit (Sophia)…but then again it could backfire and she would end up finding out about another secret of his. Sneaky woman… Maybe he could trip the fool (Fayt) into the girl's locker room. It would be funny to find out if the boy would pass out at the sight of half naked girls. …But then such an act would catch the attention of the blonde maggot and his female counterpart. The last thing he needed was to have them interested in him. Eventually the bell rang, leaving him to let out a sigh as he got up and headed towards Count Noppen's room. When he was halfway there, he sensed someone following him. One glance behind him allowed him to see that one of the underclassmen girls was purposely following him. He recalled Nel once telling him that the maggot's name was Mayu.

The girl smiled, then blushed when he stopped to face her, "Hi Albel! …Um we have the same class next, mind if I walked with you?"

He stared at her incredulously. Albel had never come across a creature like this before. He had always thought that it was a myth that a maggot could be stupid enough not to know fear. Any glare thrown in her direction just went over her head.

"Yes I would mind, now get lost, maggot," he eventually replied as he turned on his heel and walked off. This resulted in a giggle from her before she started walking beside him. She also ended up mistaking his irritated growl as a sign to move closer to him.

Unbeknownst to Albel, Nel had just come out of a classroom with the principal and Romeria. She was shocked to see the two walking down the hall so close together and was then furious when Mayu grabbed his arm and leaned against him just as turned a corner. How dare Mayu try to steal her boyfriend? And why hadn't he pushed her away? Well actually Albel wasn't her boyfriend and who's to say that he didn't push her away after they turned the corner? That was, in fact, what happened, but she didn't get to see it. Why was she stressing over it anyway? It wasn't like she was jealous or anything… Wait, why _was_ she stressing? She was supposed to give the superintendent a tour!

Because of the secret free day, the teachers didn't care if some of their students were gone or if they had students that were not supposed to be in their class. So Mayu had a way to follow Albel to all of his classes. It was nerve racking for him because he desperately wanted to strangle the maggot, but couldn't do it because there were always witnesses present. His parents told him that if he was caught trying to strangle one more person, then he would have to spend a whole summer with Woltar. When third period came around, he left without telling anyone so he could lose the pest.

He knew that at this time, Lasselle would be taking Romeria to the teachers lounge for some tea. Maybe he could hide out in the small kitchen next to it and annoy Nel at the same time…

Meanwhile in the same kitchen, there were two cups of tea sitting as Luther and his goons came in.

"Switch the tea bags with these," Luther ordered as he tossed a small box to Berial.

"Laxative tea, huh?" Belzeber mused as the other minion set out to finish the task, "I know you said we are trying to frame Cliff and Mirage, but wouldn't this get Lady Nel in trouble as well?"

"Exactly, when she gives them the tea and the effects start to kick in, I'll come in and announce that the idiot and his whore did this, thus saving Lady Nel from getting detention. Not only should this plan rid me of the idiots, it should also put me in Lord Albel's good graces for rescuing his woman."

After a few minutes of waiting, Nel came back in to retrieve the tea, forcing them to leave the room. After all, she was a spy and could have sensed them in the room no matter where they hid. When Albel arrived to the door of the kitchen, he found the trio laughing over something in front of the door.

"Heehee, one sip of the stuff and they'll be running to the bathroom for the rest of the day!" Berial chortled.

"Just imagine how loud Lasselle would be screaming when he finds out!" Belzeber added.

"What are you maggots doing?" Albel snarled, effectively silencing them.

"Lord Albel!" Luther looked shocked, "What brings you to this side of the school?"

"Answer my question, fool."

He couldn't tell him his plans because they involved Nel. What could he do? He had no choice but to abandon the plan before Albel figured it out by himself, "…Nothing, we were doing nothing. We better get back to class, let's go boys."

Belzeber and Berial only stared at their leader in confusion as he left, but they soon ran for their dear lives when they noticed Albel's death glare. When they were gone, he picked up the box Berial had accidentally dropped.

"…Smooth Move…laxative tea?" They didn't put that in the tea meant for the superintendent and the principal did they? He could tell that they were not aiming for Nel to take the fall for this, but if things were left alone, then she will get in trouble. He quickly went into the kitchen in time to see her going through the door to the lounge with a tray. He was too late…

The room was lavishly decorated and had a decorative Greeton style screen in front of the door, allowing Albel to be hidden from the others as he followed Nel. Lasselle was already taking a sip as Romeria accepted hers from Nel with a small 'thank you.' He discreetly caught the red head's attention when the administration members started another conversation. Her eyes widened in surprise at seeing him there before she quickly excused herself. What was he doing here? He better not be trying to annoy her!

"What are you doing here?" she snapped in a low whisper once she was behind the screen with him.

"Someone sabotaged the tea," he whispered back as he showed her the tea box. She took it from him and read over the contents before her face contorted with worry.

"Who did this?"

Before Albel could answer, Lasselle became suspicious of the whispering noises and pulled back the screen to reveal them. He took one look at the box in Nel's hand and assessed the situation incorrectly.

"You put laxative in our tea?" Romeria paused, the rim of her cup was touching her lips as she was about to take her first sip.

"No sir, you misunderstand-" Nel tried to explain, but Lasselle wouldn't let her finish.

"This is something I'd expect from Cliff and Mirage, not the two of you!" Two? He was pinning this on Albel too? "You both earned yourselves a full day of detention, effective immediately! Report to Room 303 now!..."

Suddenly his stomach gurgled and his eyes widened before he ran out, "B-bathroom! I need a bathroom!"

* * *

Room 303 was quiet save for Coach Adray's snoring and occasional farts. Both teens wisely decided to sit at the very back of the class next to an open window to escape the smell. Had any of the others, especially Sophia, been present, they would have noticed that Albel was in a much lighter mood than before. Not as far as to say that he was happy, but at least he wasn't depressed anymore. It was unknown if this change in the mood was due to the fact that Mayu couldn't bother him anymore, that he was stuck alone with Nel again, or both. Nel, however, was in the middle of brooding. 

She was upset that she had gotten detention of course, but she was more focused on Albel and Mayu. What if he _was_ seeing her behind her back? Then again, he was not that type of guy and he would have to hang around Mayu in order to keep away the other girls. She continued to brood in silence as she drew random sketches on a piece of paper.

Around this time at the other side of the school, Cliff and Mirage were furious. Principal Lasselle had insulted Coach Adray's smell again, earning himself another gas-related prank. Within a short period of time, Cliff managed to fill a balloon up with the same stench as the stink bombs and Mirage set up her mp3 player to play Adray's ten loudest and surprisingly long farts they had recorded last time they had had detention with him. The supplies were hidden in their pockets as they waited for their target to leave the nurse's office. Ten minutes later, Lasselle emerged after taking an anti-diarrhea pill to counter the laxative. He didn't notice the two blondes following him down the slightly crowded hall. Cliff skillfully poked a hole near the tied portion of the balloon with a pin to let the air leak out slowly. He then signaled to Mirage to play the recording. The students were immediately able to hear the sounds and smelled the scent that followed.

Lasselle heard the noise too and slowed his pace to determine the cause. As they continued down the hall, Mirage and Cliff slowly started acting like they couldn't breathe and earned laughs from the others. By the time they were halfway down the hall, they were on their hands and knees before they collapsed as Lasselle turned to glance behind him. He wasn't quite sure what had happened, but he was certain the students were laughing at him because of whatever they pulled.

"That's it, get up. You've just earned yourselves a full day of detention."

Only Cliff compiled as he got up with a chuckle, but Mirage remained on the ground as if she were in a coma. Cliff nudged her gently and noticed the small grin indicating that she was playing around.

"Come on Mirage, get up. …This ain't funny!" He used his best acting skills as he held her 'limp' body in his arms, "Open your eyes…Please open your eyes!"

Steeg was also present to see the prank and pointed at Lasselle before he screamed, "OH MY GOD! HE KILLED MIRAGE!"

Nel wasn't angry at Albel, really she wasn't. After all, he tried to help her. So why did she end up with a sketch of her trying to strangle him? For some reason Mayu's name flashed across her mind, but why? Mayu did nothing wrong. It's not like she could actually take Albel away from her… She quickly relaxed her hand before her tense muscles broke the pencil she was holding. She wasn't jealous! There was nothing to be jealous about! Albel didn't like Mayu and she'dl figure it out eventually. Nel's thoughts were cut short when a hand shot out and took her drawing.

The crimson eyed teen examined the picture before he pulled out his pencil to modify it. He left the figure resembling Nel alone, but changed his figure so it was strangling her back. It was fair in her opinion because if she really attacked him, then it would have been for no reason and so he had a right to defend himself. Besides the one she should be attacking is Mayu and not him-NO! SHE WAS _NOT_ JEALOUS!

Albel soon distracted her by flipping the page over to draw another sketch. The picture ended up with two people looking suspiciously like them, kissing. Before her breath could catch in her throat and a blush formed, he hastily wrote 'You wish!' under it. Nel glared at him before snatching her paper back and erasing the image. She then wrote 'In your dreams!' under his words.

He let out a dark chuckle as he grabbed the paper again. She let out an angry growl as he started re-drawing that picture. She immediately leaned over to take it back before he could finish, but that proved to be a fatal mistake as he chose that very moment to face her with a smirk. Both froze and forgot what they were doing when their noses accidentally touched. Neither knew who it was that was leaning closer, but the gap between their lips was gradually getting smaller…

"Hey there Coach!" Cliff said loudly as he slammed open the door. Nel and Albel snapped out of it and quickly pulled away as Adray fell out of his chair in surprise. Before Mirage came in, Nel took back her paper and tore it to shreds so the troublemaking duo wouldn't see what was on it.

"Oh you two got in trouble already?" Adray inquired as he got up.

Cliff only shrugged, "Yeah well…"

"It was for a good cause," Mirage explained before they noticed the personification of Death and the maiden in the back, "You guys got detention too?"

"Whoa! I didn't think you had it in you!" Cliff cheered as another person entered the room.

"Perhaps they didn't after all," Lasselle said with a solemn look, "Lord Albel, Lady Nel, please forgive me. I was so stressed that I jumped to conclusions. I should have investigated this instead of pointing the finger at you without thought. As of now, you are both released from detention and this will not be put on your records."

Silently, Albel and Nel gathered their things and headed out. When they reached the door, Nel stopped and bowed, "Thank you, sir."

"No need for that, it was my blunder. Now I shall start an investigation…STARTING WITH YOU TWO!" he yelled as he faced Cliff and Mirage.

"What was it? What ever it was, we probably done it," Cliff replied with a grin.

"And if not, we'll probably do it in the future," Mirage finished. Lasselle opened his mouth to scold them for talking back in such a manner, but he was cut off by a low thunderous sound.

"Excuse me," Adray said sheepishly as a rather deadly scent reached the principal's nose.

"Apris Adray! In the classroom?" he gagged before he ran out of the classroom. Cliff and Mirage were used to the smells and were thus immune to them. When it was certain that Lasselle was gone, the coach also known as 'Thunder Fart' crossed his arms with a proud look as the pranksters snickered. That was one way to avoid an interrogation.

"Coach? We love you," Cliff smiled as Mirage nodded in agreement.

* * *

With the school inspection out of the way, the rest of the week went by fast. It wasn't long before it was Saturday and everyone was ready for the ball. Since Albel was her date, Nel's family dropped her off at the Nox Manor so she could go with them. She was dressed as a pirate with a hunter green long-sleeved over shirt that reached mid-thigh, a white tube top underneath the over shirt, brown leggings, boots, a sword that Glou let her borrow, and her hair was tied back by a green bandana. When she got inside, she found that Glou and Karen were not ready yet, but Albel was. The maid led her up to his room while Nel entertained herself with speculation about what he had chosen for a costume. He had refused to tell her, but she was fairly certain what it was, in fact it was obvious. When they arrived, the maid bowed before leaving. 

Nel stared at the door before knocking.

"Who is it?" Came the gruff reply.

"It's me," she responded casually.

She could almost see the evil smirk as he said, "Come in if you dare, cerise…"

Not one bit worried at the threat, she rolled her eyes and opened the door. The room was dark inside so she flipped the light switch and searched for Albel. When she saw him, she let out a gasp.

* * *

Yes I intended to put a cliff hanger here DON'T KILL ME! I did it for good reason! I want to see who can guess what Albel is wearing. The winner gets a cookie and their choice of either a ruling position over Anime Town after I take over the world or a barrel of laughs. Er-wait I didn't say that I was taking over the world-you guys are hearing things! Oh yeah, before I run to my fortress of all things that are demented and crazy (complete with pictures of Sesshoumaru and the other bishies on the walls!) to hide from the those who still wish to kill me, my idea for Mirage's costume came from the outfit adult Mandy was wearing in http/ grim(dot)snafu-comics(dot)com (view the bottom of page 6). Bleedman's Grim Adventures comics rock! 


	14. Pirates of the Aquarian Ball

Well, I don't know how to explain this one… At first I wasn't writing because I was studying for my final exams, then I was really happy to find that I made all A's in my classes. After that I had no clue how to start the new chapter and then when I did, I realized that I was really behind in updating my FFX-2 fic and found myself finishing that faster. Finally after I posted the teasers on the forum, I was struck with a brilliant idea of a new pairing and couldn't stop writing the first chapter for that… Speaking of which, I just posted that fic (called Past, Present, and Future) along with this and I have some good Alnel arguments in there that I know everyone will love.

Let's see…in the last chapter I forgot to thank Lorelai Kline for being the one to introduce me to Bleedman's Snafu comics and of course I need to thank her now for creating Fluffy the fluffball who will be making a cameo appearance in this chapter.

As for the winners of the contest, I had to give credit to Ghost in the Mirror, darkladyxion959, and Ryume-chan. I guess I'll have to build two more Anime Towns, but I'm giving Ghost in the Mirror the original one because she had 'captain' in the answer. Everyone else earned …COOKIES …and since I had a feeling that a lot of people would guess 'vampire', I'm also giving them UNDEAD MONKEYS!

Disclaimer: I do not own the following: Star Ocean, Fluffy, Naruto, InuYasha, Frankenstein, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and large sums of money.

Chapter 14

Her eyes swept over the long black trench coat with gold decorative trim that ended at the boots he usually wore. When Albel turned to face her, she was able to see that he was wearing a fancy, old fashioned blood red doublet underneath a black velvet vest with black pants of a different material. He also was wearing a three pointed hat with a matching red feather as well. He was dressed as a pirate, but not just any pirate-a pirate _captain_.

"But…how did you…?" Nel mumbled as he contemplated putting on a fake parrot. She had never told him what she was going to wear and she refused to believe that it was a coincidence. How could he have known? He would have had to go through her closet to find out. No one but the maids had been in her room because she knew that the last visitor took some of her underwear, hopefully to have them washed with the rest of her clothes. It was hard to believe that Albel could have stolen them. But still…he must have found out somehow.

"What were you expecting, cerise? A vampire?" he inquired with a grin as he tossed the stuffed bird over his shoulder and out an open window. A satisfying cry of pain followed, making his smirk wider.

"Well…yes. It just seemed like something you would do."

"Am I really that predictable?" He acted like he was hurt by her words, "Besides, if I went as a vampire, then we wouldn't match."

"And how did you know I was going as a pirate?" Nel snapped as she took one more step towards him.

"Like you, I have my ways," he replied casually as he carefully kicked a black piece of clothing, which suspiciously looked like a thong, under his bed. Because she was too focused on his grin, she didn't notice.

Her eyes narrowed before she asked in a dry voice, "If you don't want to be predictable and not be a vampire, then why are you wearing fangs?"

"Fangs? What are you talking about?"

"The ones on your teeth, genius," she muttered as she rolled her eyes. She then reached up to pull the fang out, but was in for the surprise of her life when she felt a prick on her finger as the tooth refused to come out. _It was real_? The tip of her finger was about to bleed as she pulled away so she quickly pressed her thumb against it.

Albel was still confused over her actions but soon ignored it when he noticed that she was backing up to the exact place he wanted her. He soon trailed after her so she would get there faster, "What are you going on about? I don't have fangs!"

Nel's back bumped against one of his bed posts before she found that she was trapped, "But-"

"It's time to go, you better be ready." Karen's voice sounded behind the thick wooden door. If Nel hadn't been so confused, she would have noticed that the Wicked Mother had been talking rather fast as if she were distressed over something.

"You heard my mother, it's time to go," he said as he leaned over her, "But unfortunately my costume isn't finished yet. After all, what's a pirate captain without his slave?"

Before Nel could react, Albel's arm reached around her to pull some chains off his bed post and tied her wrists together. He then grabbed the excess chain and pulled it over his shoulder so that he could drag her to wherever he wanted.

"W-what? Let me go!" she shouted as she tried to slip out of her binds. Unfortunately those rope escaping lessons didn't work on chains. Albel began leading her out of his room and didn't even slow down when she tried to resist him. When they arrived to the front hall, they found Glou in his costume. He had decided to dress as Kakashi, a ninja from an anime called Naruto. Nel was sure that he chose that outfit just to spite her father. Still, who knew that Glou liked anime?

"Albel, you know the rules. No tying someone against their will," his father scolded when he saw the two teens.

"What? It's only Nel…" the Wicked One shrugged casually. Glou paused, and then took a closer look at the bound red haired pirate.

"Well so it is! I didn't even recognize you Nel! Carry on then."

"Hey!" she yelled at Glou's retreating form as Albel smirked evilly at her.

"Release her," a dark feminine voice commanded, making Albel straighten up instantly.

"Yes mother," he muttered before undoing the chains and giving them to a nearby servant.

"Thank you," Nel sighed in relief as she rubbed her wrists. Karen only stared back at her, her gold-hazel eyes looking at her in an almost accusing glance.

"…You're welcome," she eventually replied in a quiet tone. Albel watched the exchange with interest until his mother left to search for Glou.

"…What did you do?"

Nel glanced up at him in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"The only time she looks at me like that is when I'm in trouble or she's worried about me," he explained while facing the direction Karen went, "For a second I thought she was getting on to me for tying you up, but her eyes were completely focused on you."

He didn't seem worried, scared, or excited about the situation, so she decided not to let it bother her, "…How strange…"

"Speaking of strange," he finally turned to glance at her, "What was it you were talking about earlier? About me having fangs?"

He actually looked like he had no clue what she was talking about, leaving her to wonder if he was trying to trick her. Then again who's to say that she didn't imagine them? No…they were real, normal teeth couldn't prick her finger like his had.

Suddenly Albel stiffened up again when he sensed his mother appear behind him. "We are leaving. Now."

No one thought it strange for Karen to be in such a hurry all of a sudden. Glou usually blamed it on 'monthly cycles' but refused to say it out loud, especially within his wife's hearing range. So without any protests or arguments from the men, they all gathered in the limo and headed off to Castle Aquaria. Nel glanced around and noticed that the Nox's limo was much different from her family's limo and much bigger. Sitting next to her was Albel with a bored expression on his face while Glou sat across from her, reading a dirty novel with the words 'Icha Icha Paradise' glued on the cover. Karen was staring out the window, deep in thought as Nel finally noticed her costume. She was dressed as an elven princess and was wearing a long wig that was as white as the one Glou was wearing. She looked absolutely stunning and all the more sinister. …But, if only her eyes were more golden and less hazel and if she wore white dog ears, then she would have closely resembled InuYasha.

All of a sudden, Nel quickly grew exhausted as if she hadn't slept for days. She was unable to fight the urge to close her eyes and leaned against the window. Before she knew it, she was out like a light and was immediately thrust into dream world. But the only vision she had beneath her eyelids was a view of a full moon in the night sky.

_"You know too much,"_ a familiar voice echoed.

**"What?"** her own voice sounded within the strange void of space.

_"He's not a vampire though. Vampires are not the only creatures with fangs." _

**"You mean Albel? So they were real… If he's not a vampire, then what is he?" **

_"You already know too much, but I fear it can not be helped,"_ the strange voice continued, ignoring her question, _"If I tell you more, you must promise to keep it a secret." _

**"Why? Is it really bad?"**

_"I will give you more information later this evening."_

**"Wait!"** Nel called when she felt the voice fading, but it didn't seem to hear her, or it just ignored her. But before she could begin to reflect on that bizarre dream (if it was a dream), she felt a mischievous presence close by her and jerked awake.

"Darn, she's waking up!" Her eyes focused and she was able to see 'Kakashi' leaning towards her with his arm extended to Albel. She soon felt her 'captain' shift to face the front as he tossed a black marker back to his father.

It took a moment for it to register and when it did her hands flew to her face and she glared at the two men, "What did you do?"

"Albel was about to draw a beard and mustache to go with your costume, but you woke up before he could do it," Glou explained with a smirk that could be seen through the mask.

Her gaze flew to Karen to see if she would tell her if Glou was telling the truth. She didn't want to go to the party with some strange smudge on her face.

"It's true," she admitted softly, easing Nel's fears. It was sad that she could trust the Wicked Mother more than Glou.

The red haired pirate then relaxed and leaned back in her seat. It was a good thing she detected Glou's presence otherwise- Wait a minute… She closed her eyes and focused like her father had taught her. She then tried to sense everyone's aura and was shocked to find that she could only sense Glou. Where were Albel and his mother's aura? She opened her eyes in hopes that they had arrived to their destination and had already gotten out, but sure enough, they were still there in their seats. They had to exist. She recalled hitting Albel many times in the past and every time her hand connected with something solid. …Perhaps there was something wrong with _her_?

* * *

"Mirage, this is boring!" Cliff whined in a hushed tone as he led his date across the ballroom. Mrs. Koas had ordered Mirage to make her rounds by talking to the other rich nobles and, of course, she was not allowed to go without an escort. At first it wasn't so bad since most of the nobility had funny names that Cliff could make endless jokes about. But when the rich 'old farts', as he called them, started lengthy speeches about their wealth, he felt that he was going to go insane with boredom. He knew Mirage was trained for this since birth, but even she had limits. Why hadn't she lost it yet? This place was too orderly, it needed chaos! The ballroom was just begging for a prank!

"I know, but it will get better," she promised with a smile before she playfully bumped her barely clad hip against his furry one. As Sophia had suggested, Cliff went as a werewolf and Mirage was the 'queen of the underworld'. But it had taken hours before they could convince her mother to let her out of the house barely dressed like that.

"That's what you said after that speech from the archduke of bleu cheese or whatever." Mirage covered up her giggle at his latest name for the archduke.

"Yes, but the fun hasn't started yet… Remember these?" she asked coyly as she pulled out a flat, stick-like device from her black leather armguards. They were radio controlled firecrackers that Welch had invented a few months ago.

"Mirage…" he breathed as his eyes widened, "You are a genius! You've been planting those every time we stopped, haven't you?"

"That's right. They are set to go off at eleven o'clock and we need to plant three more."

"Excellent…but first let's take a quick breather and visit the refreshment table. I've been meaning to introduce the punch bowel to my friend 'Jack Daniels' and a few other drinks."

"Roger."

But first they had to make sure the coast was clear and that any witnesses present were distracted. Once they got there, they saw a familiar grey haired woman in a witch's costume pouring some punch.

"Hey look, it's a 'Blair Witch'!" Cliff called as he pointed at her.

Blair turned and then smiled when she noticed who was approaching, "Cliff! Mirage! Great costumes."

"Thanks, you have a nice one too. Are you of the Blair Witch Project?" Mirage inquired with an amused grin.

"No, I'm just a regular witch named Blair," she replied with a chuckle.

"Heh, heh… So how has life been treating you?" the female prankster continued as Cliff used the distraction to start working on getting the alcohol into the drink.

"Well it's getting better now that I have gotten that job at the Sphere Company. I swear that if Luther wasn't there when our parents passed away… He's been very helpful in past by working so hard to earn us money. I only wish he'd tell me where he was working because he certainly earns a lot of Fol."

It was a depressing thought that Blair didn't know Luther's true life at school and where the money was really coming from. As far as she knew, her brother was a good student and a hard worker when in fact he was a bully and a thief. Mirage couldn't bear to break Blair's heart and tell her the truth. No one wanted that because she was a very nice lady. Still the fact that Luther tried so hard to support his sister gave Mirage a pretty good idea what his weakness was.

"I'm glad you are doing well. Many people have been worried about you." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Cliff was about to finish as he added a homemade bottle of what they now lovingly call 'Fayt's Super Energy Drink' and then placed one of the firecrackers under the table for good measure.

"So," Cliff finally said as he grabbed two glasses of untainted punch and gave one to Mirage, "I think I saw Leiber earlier. Are you babysitting him and Steeg again?"

Blair sighed and slightly rolled her eyes before she scanned the ballroom for the mentioned two, "Yes, my uncle had promised that they will behave, but I still have my doubts. Of course Leiber is a perfect gentleman, but Steeg… Well he seemed to be calming down since Marietta is his date, but I wonder how long it will be before he gets out of hand. He's always been known to be a bit …wild."

"Hey!" During the conversation, Steeg, who was dressed as Frankenstein, had sneaked up behind Blair with the bride of Frankenstein ( Marietta) still attached to his arm. The grey haired woman gave a small tired smirk before she faced them.

"Sorry, but it's true… Since we are on the subject, you haven't broken anything have you? You better have not gotten to any fights!"

"Don't worry Miss Blair, I'll make sure to keep him in line," Marietta reassured.

"Good luck on that, but thank you for what you've done so far." Blair gazed past Cliff and Mirage and noticed two more people coming to join them, "Luther! There you are!"

"Luther?" Cliff growled out in surprise before Mirage elbowed him in the ribs. Because everyone loved Blair, no one wanted her to know that her only brother was not only a gang member, but also had several enemies. Even if it was for a whole night, they didn't mind pretending to be Luther's friends for Blair's sake.

He was dressed as Romero and had the goddess Erinia clinging to his arm. They were quite the opposite pair; the demon lord of darkness with one of the goddesses of light. It was even odder that Luther's date was none other than Welch Vineyard.

"I see you have quite a conversation going on." He was wearing a false gentle smile before he gave the blonde troublemakers a critical glare, "I hope you are not talking about anyone in this room. That would be bad."

"Nah, Blair's only confusing me with Mirage and Cliff over there," Steeg muttered as he glanced at Welch, "Say Luther, why did you go to the circus to help this freak show exhibit escape?"

"Freak show exhibit?" Welch shouted before putting on a grin as fake as Luther's, "Wow, it really _is_ you Steeg! Didn't recognize you, though I wonder why you went through the trouble of getting a costume. You're hideous enough without a mask."

"That's okay Welch, I know you have bad eyesight. Everyone knows that Steeg Yukio is _not_ 'hideous'," he replied as he flexed his muscles.

"Hoo boy," Mirage added dryly as Cliff chuckled beside her.

"So today it's 'Yukio' huh?" Blair mused while Marietta stood off to the side looking amused and slightly embarrassed.

"Right Mr. Guadalupe-Enrique-Yukio-idiot-with-stupid-names, but if I need an eye examination, then you obviously need a mental examination!"

"Is that so?" he responded in a cool tone and then glanced down at her costume, "…Hey, I thought this was a costume ball, not a 'lie to everyone' ball. You're definitely not good, holy, or beautiful enough to be Erinia, in fact you should be the one in a Romero costume. Nah, even he doesn't fit your profile… I know! You're more suited as one of Romero's ugly assistants!"

"Why you…" Welch began as she raised her fist. But before she could finish that threat, Steeg finally realized…

"Whoa! What are we doing? We're not on air."

The cinnamon haired girl paused, then giggled, "Oh, you're right! Sorry Steeg, old habits die hard."

Marietta was the only one who was not shocked or confused when the tense air suddenly lightened between the two.

"S'alright. Anyway, that is a pretty good costume. I like how you and Luther are going for the opposite theme."

"Thanks, and I like how you and Marietta dressed. That's just too cute in my opinion!" Welch gushed happily.

"Oh and by the way," 'Frankenstein' whispered near her ear, "Thanks for the hook up with Marietta."

"No problem, anytime," she whispered back.

"Hang on…so you guys don't hate each other?" Cliff wondered once he got over his shock.

Welch stared at him like he had spiders crawling out of his ears, "Goodness no! That's just an act for the cameras. It makes great ratings for the 'Morning Report'."

"I guess that makes sense, after all, that's the only reason why I watch the show," Luther admitted before his date and the other members of the news cast went off to discuss the next broadcast of 'Morning Report'.

"So…" Blair continued with a sly look towards Welch, then Luther, "Was she the girl you've been telling me about?"

"No, unfortunately she had other matters to attend to and could not come."

"Girl? Oh…" Mirage said softly as it hit her. He was talking about Maria and quickly decided to keep quiet.

But when Cliff figured it out, he couldn't keep his big mouth shut, "You mean Maria? She's back home with _Fayt_, trying out his new video game."

"_Cliff_!" his date hissed in his ear as she pinched his arm.

"_What_?" he responded in the same tone.

"Are you trying to get Fayt beaten up?" she scolded while making sure not to be loud enough for the others to hear.

"Don't worry, I'll protect 'em."

Luther had an unreadable expression on his features as he muttered, "…I see."

"…That's right, Fayt wants to be a game developer in the future. How is he doing in his goals?" the sweeter older sister of the notorious gang leader inquired with curiosity. The question was directed at the blonde duo, but Luther was the one who answered it instead.

"He's doing very well in his endeavor, but I fear he may get himself into very serious trouble soon…" Mirage's eyes widened as she thought he was referring to what Cliff had said earlier, but he wasn't done talking, "…I mean, I understand that he needs someone who will understand and support him, but he really needs to find someone more suitable. Like Maria for instance, at least she's law abiding."

"Wait, what?" Cliff blurted out in confusion when his sister was mentioned. Just what was he talking about?

Luther suddenly acted sheepish as a hand dramatically flew to his mouth in mock embarrassment, "You don't know? I didn't know this was a secret…well a secret being kept from friends. If this is a secret, then maybe I shouldn't say anymore."

"Since it's about Fayt, then maybe you _should_ tell us," Mirage insisted in an as polite tone she could muster with her enemy. What ever it was, it _wasn't_ good. In fact, she remembered that Sophia was also concerned about him too. Maybe that was why she called him an 'untrusting jerk'. But wait, if _Sophia_ didn't know, then it must have been really, **_really_** bad.

"No, no, I don't want to break his trust, but if you must know, then why don't you go ask him yourselves? I mean, you _are_ both his friends, he _should_ tell you."

"Oh dear, well I hope that whatever it is, he will be okay," Blair said with genuine concern for the blue haired boy.

"I do too, after all, he's such a good kid. Um Blair? Isn't that your date over there?" Luther pointed at Demetrio, who was trying to get her attention from across the ballroom by waving his arms about wildly.

The silver haired woman flushed because she didn't want the others to know who her date was. …He always embarrassed her, but she didn't have anyone else to take. Blair quickly excused herself and left the three alone. Luther flashed Cliff and Mirage his usual icy glare that was returned with equal intensity by the two. A silent agreement was made before the cold blue eyes of the gang leader turned away. The agreement was: as long as Blair was nearby, there was to be no fighting. Luther then poured some punch into his cup and went off to find Welch while sipping some of it.

"Cliff, I love you," Mirage said sweetly once Luther was out of hearing range. The muscled teen gave her a confused look as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Uh…I love you too, but why to I get the feeling that you had a point with it?"

"Because Luther just ran off drinking your spiked punch."

It took a moment for that to register, but when it did, he couldn't hold back the mischievous laugh.

* * *

"Fine, we are here. Now let's go home," Albel grumbled as he watched his father chase 'Naruto' around the ballroom because he had snatched his 'prized hentai novel'. They had to wonder why both Nevelle and Glou chose to dress as characters from the same anime, but then again, it sadly fit them.

"You know your parents aren't going to let you," Nel sweetly reminded him, secretly enjoying the fact that his father was making a complete fool of himself. True, her father was no better, but he paled in comparison to Glou.

"Why are you so smug? You're father is making an ass of himself too." He glowered when she shrugged in a nonchalant manner.

"So? It's nothing new. Besides, no one else seems to care," she said as she pointed at the other guests. Not one person paid heed to the crazy ninjas as they ran past them, almost like it was something that happened everyday.

"Why does your father want that blasted book anyway?"

"It's not that he wants it, it's just that he knows Glou will act in character and do everything in his power to get it back. You know, you should really watch the show, it's quite amusing…oh wait, I forgot. You don't have a sense of humor."

"Right, I don't have a sense of humor," he replied sarcastically, "Just keep telling yourself that, cerise."

She cringed at the nickname and tried very hard to ignore it. She learned that he did eventually tire himself out with some of the insults and it should be a matter of time before 'cerise' became old. …At least as long as he didn't get a response from it. Suddenly she felt a rough hand being held against her forehead and soon was in for a shock when she realized that it was _Albel's_ hand.

"Are you feeling okay? So far you've been letting me get away with calling you cerise," he inquired in a concerned sounding voice. She had a feeling that it was really cynicism and that he was baiting her into a reaction. Nel quickly batted his hand away and tried to act calm.

"I'm fine, I'm just ignoring you by accepting the stupid pet name," she responded acidly.

She had hoped that he would get angry that she called it a 'pet name' and that he would stop calling her names altogether, but that was kind of stretching it. Sure, it did work for Sophia, but he still was calling her 'fruit'. However, unlike how it turned out for Sophia, he didn't get angry at all. His hand came back up towards her face and for a moment, she thought he was going to hit her, but instead, he brushed some of her hair back. There was a very arrogant grin plastered on his face as her cheeks flushed slightly.

"Accepting it? Good, good," he said in a light tone, "Means you're submitting to me, you've finally realized who's dominant."

"Hardly!" she spat as she backed away, only to have something solid collide into her back. Where did that wall come from?

"I'm far too mature to be playing your silly games, Albel! You're turning 18 soon. Why don't you grow up?" That smirk was still on his face as he took a step closer. "…And for your information, I'm not submitting to you. I'm not even afraid of you…let alone h-have any…r-respect towards…you."

Her voice was beginning to falter. He was close-too close for comfort. Her eyes drifted towards the lips that were a few centimeters away from her face. His fangs seemed even sharper than before and the dark, hungry look in his eyes only fueled the idea that he was going to devour her. True to her earlier speech, she wasn't afraid of him or what he might do to her, but there was still something there that easily racked her nerves. Damn him and his mind games! He was trying to intimidate her again and she knew it!

Nel tried to retain the furious look to prove that he was having no effect on her, but it appeared that he was getting even closer than before…and yet, she didn't feel any contact. She wanted to move, but that would mean touching him. She wanted to yell at him, but he was so close that she might accidentally kiss him. What she didn't want was to stay as still as a statue and she also didn't want to be the one to initiate a kiss with him. That would only boost his already overbearing ego and make her look more foolish than both their fathers. Why was it that every time she had to deal with him, it was like dealing with demons? They _always_ had to win!

"It's not good to lie like that," he whispered in a husky tone that nearly made her knees go weak. She had to somehow prove that he wasn't intimidating her or get him to move away because she didn't know how much more of this she could take.

"Oh, Albel! I was wondering where you were!" a feminine voice called out, making him pull away and earning a relieved sigh from Nel. She glanced over his shoulder and saw a young girl with black and white wig, plastic fangs, and a long black dress with lace embroidered to look like cobwebs running towards them.

"Mayu?" Nel called out, stunned when she recognized the intruder/unexpected rescuer.

"Hmm?" the girl glanced up and acted like she hadn't noticed her there until now, "Oh, hi Lady Nel! Nice costume…but it's not very original though…no offense."

"What?" the red haired girl asked in confusion.

"Well, everyone is wearing a pirate outfit, it seems to be really popular," Mayu shrugged before gesturing to the other guests. As far as the eye could see, there were many people wearing many different colors and costumes, but not one of them was a pirate.

"Heh, this woman wouldn't know 'popular' if it bit her in the ass," Albel commented gruffly, leaving Nel to wonder if he was referring to Mayu or her.

"That's true, but you shouldn't be so mean to Nel," Mayu giggled like what he had said was a cute joke. She then started getting closer to Albel, "But your costume is really unique! No one ever thought of coming as a pirate captain!"

Nel fought the urge to roll her eyes as the girl made obvious attempts to flirt with him. But she did feel a little better that she wasn't the only one who thought Albel was going to be a vampire. Why else would Mayu dress as a vampiress? Still, why was Albel not glaring at her to get her to go away? …Why was it that they seemed kind of friendly with each other? Oh not again! She was _not_ jealous!

Albel on the other hand was still marveling the fact that there really were maggots that held great stupidity. He knew the moment she called out to him that nothing was going to make her go away, apparently not even Nel. …But wait, why does his red haired pirate look so angry? Did she not like the maggot (because for once that would be something they could agree on)? Or…could it be that she was jealous? Was she really worried about Mayu gaining his attention? He held back a smirk. If it were true, then this may be great fun…

"Why thank you…Mayu." He struggled really hard to not call her 'maggot'. Sure enough a surprised look appeared on Nel's face, followed by an angry look before she turned away. Perhaps he could hold back his urge to strangle this 'Mayu' thing long enough to really mess with Nel's mind. Oh this was going to be such fun! "…And might I add that you look ……hideous-er-_extravagant_ tonight."

"Oh Albel-sama! You're making me blush!" she shouted, making sure that Nel heard her while she did indeed have a tint of red appear on her cheeks. He slightly twitched. …Albel-sama? What the hell…?

Nel caught the twitch and realized that because he didn't have any interest in anime, he didn't know Japanese and that gave her a great advantage the next time they had a verbal fight. But alas, that information was stored in the back of her mind as she was too focused on what had just transpired. What was going on? Were they really having a relationship or something? Why was he being so nice to her? Or was he being nice? …When she thought of it, he _was_ trying a little too hard to say the right thing. Oh-no, did he know she was jealous of Mayu? Cold dread washed over her and then went away again as she reminded herself that she wasn't jealous of anything. But, either way, Albel was probably playing with mind her again. …Or was he?

What ever it was, it was working because her brain was thrown in a loop and she was getting very confused. She had to get away from them…

"Nel," a cool crisp voice sounded behind her, making her jump up in shock, "We need to talk, privately."

Nel placed a hand over her chest to calm her heart before she glanced behind her to find Karen, "O-okay."

Karen nodded and quietly walked towards the balcony, but as Nel tried to follow her, Albel grabbed her by the arm.

"You _are_ in trouble, aren't you?" he whispered accusingly in her ear.

"Honestly, I don't even know anymore," she replied with a shrug and quickly shook his hand off of her, "…But if I am and you were the one at fault, then I'm going to hurt you."

"Heh, I'll be waiting with eager anticipation," he smirked as she hurriedly ran to catch up with his mother. It was after she left that he noticed that he was left alone with the brainless maggot and his mood soured instantly.

* * *

Nel quietly followed Albel's mother into a dark, secluded place outside on the large balcony. It was silent in the cool air and the stars shone brightly in the darkened sky while the full moon bathed the Elicoorian surface in white light. Karen stopped walking and faced the young girl.

"What I am about to tell you is to be kept a secret. No one is to know, especially Albel," she started.

"No one? …Does my father already know this secret?" Nel inquired, knowing full well that she couldn't keep anything from her father for long. As for her friends, Sophia would be no trouble as long as Nel didn't dwell on the secret. If she thought about a secret for too long, it would give the brunette a suspicion that something was amiss.

"Nevelle knows and Glou does too, but your mother does not," she replied in her usual dark voice.

"Then in that case, I can keep it a secret. …But why can't Albel know? …He doesn't have a health problem that's going to kill him later on in life, does he?"

"No… We're here to discuss the fangs you saw."

"Fangs?" she then remembered the dream. It was Karen's voice that was telling her this, "…That dream."

This time there was a tiny smile on Karen's face as she replied, "It wasn't a dream, I was telling you this telepathically, but your body was too weary to stay awake."

"Telepathically? …But humans can't-"

"I'm not really a human," the elder woman cut in. Nel stared at her in wonder as her creamy skin slowly obtained exotic markings. Karen's teeth then became sharper and her eyes lost the hazel hue that covered the golden color.

It took all of her father's training not to step back from her as she finally figured it all out, "You're a demon! …And that means Albel…"

"Is a half-demon," Karen finished, "On the nights of a full moon and a new moon is when his fangs appear and his hidden demon nature is released. I must warn you that if he has indeed grown attached to you, whether it be love or friendship, he will be very possessive over you. It's important to a demon that if they obtain something, then they will keep it for as long as they live."

If that's true, then what if Albel grows attached to Mayu? Nel wanted to go back in there and chase the annoying girl away, but she was still intrigued with the new information. Apparently Albel didn't need to watch anime because he was practically living one, "I understand, but why can't Albel know? I'd figure that he would love to know that he isn't a full human."

"Precisely. If he knew about his blood, then he would abuse his powers. I will tell him someday, but right now he is not mature enough."

"That's true," she chuckled before glancing at the markings on Karen's skin, "What kind of demon are you?"

"Nel," she sighed, "I am not from your ridiculous anime. There is only one _kind_ of demon on Elicoor."

"Sorry, I meant which clan are you from?" she corrected herself with a blush. Karen looked surprised, then slowly nodded.

"I suppose I could tell you… My real name is Ipiria and I am the daughter of the great Romero, king of the undead."

To say Nel was stunned would be an understatement. This whole time _Karen_, Albel's _mother_ was the daughter of _Romero_? It _did_ make sense though. Romero was supposed to be the embodiment of pure darkness and the opposite of Apris. Also, because Romero was king of the undead, he wouldn't have an aura because he wasn't technically alive or dead. If the aura was inherited, then it was no wonder why she couldn't sense Karen and Albel.

"How on earth did Glou-?"

"Win my heart?" Karen guessed as she transformed back into her human appearance, "It wasn't easy. That man is foolish and adventurous. He just _had_ to fall for the most dangerous being he could come across. He once told me that any other woman would bore him to tears."

That would be something Glou would say…as well as Albel. It felt like Nel could identify almost everything Albel inherited from his parents.

"Remember, do not tell anyone," the demon said as she began heading back inside, "…Enjoy the ball."

Demons. This whole time Nel had been talking to demons. It certainly explained a lot with the way Albel acted sometimes. _Whether it be love or friendship_. She recalled Karen's words. The time when he confronted her about her sudden love for pop music and then when he vowed that no guy would ever date her…they were a few glimpses of his demon nature. He considered her his possession. She couldn't really be angry at him for that since they were instincts that he had no control over, but still. There was no way that she was going to bend to his will. He would have to find out that she was a person and not a thing to own. As for Mayu, she may become another possession, especially if Albel sees some use in her. She had better go back in there…

Albel was standing, looking like he was about to die of boredom as Mayu talked and talked …and talked some more. When he noticed Nel returning, he quickly began a half hearted compliment to the dense girl. Nel caught it and was now certain that he _was_ acting. What a jerk! She had to clear her throat to get their attention, even though Albel knew she was there all along.

"So, what did you do?" he inquired, still thinking that she was in trouble.

"It was nothing, we were only talking about something embarrassing about you," she replied sweetly, carefully making her sound like she was lying to throw him off.

"Now cerise, I know you want to be a spy, but you are a terrible liar," he smirked. They both completely ignored Mayu's furious expression towards Nel and her attempts to gain Albel's attention.

"Well, if you really want to know, then ask your mother, you âne."

"An 'ass', am I? Fine then…" he chuckled as he walked away. Wherever he was going, it was not towards his mother.

"Your mother is in the opposite direction," Nel started, but stopped when he faced her again.

"I'm getting some punch, watch the maggot."

"Coward," she muttered under her breath before she wondered why he wanted her to watch Mayu.

"How do you put up with it, Lady Nel?" the young girl asked with sincere concern.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, the way he calls you names and treats you like dirt. I don't think I can take that easily." Perhaps there was a hidden intelligence in Mayu after all. Maybe she was on the verge of giving up on Albel.

"…You have no idea," she said in response. There was no way she was going to tell the underclassmen her secret, it may give her a reason to continue pursuing Albel.

"Well, I would think you would have left him by now. He obviously doesn't like you with the way he calls you 'cerise' all the time. I don't know what it means, but I am sure that it's a derogatory term. Then again, maybe giving people names is just the way he functions. He _does_ call me 'maggot' but I know it's a term of endearment because he says it differently towards me."

Nel's eyes widened in disbelief. Never mind the intelligence bit, this girl was as dense as they come, probably denser than Cliff even.

"Um, what you mean by 'like'? We're only friends, not lovers," Nel stated so that Mayu wouldn't have any strange ideas that she was 'competition'.

"Oh really? Then you don't mind that Albel and I are an item?" the vampiress queried with a look of relief.

"You're _what_?" she shouted before she could stop herself. Mayu was living in a fantasy world, there was nothing to worry about…right?

"You didn't know? The chemistry was so thick between us that it was only a matter of time. I love Albel so much that I would die for him," Mayu announced with a contented look on her face, indicating that she was serious.

"…Does Albel know about this?" Nel inquired with doubt as Mayu became angry.

"Of course he knows! Are you dense?" Suddenly her features softened, "Oh I get it, you _do_ like him. Well you're too late, he's mine now!"

Nel wanted to hit this girl so badly that her nails were digging into her palms as she fisted them. Where did this girl get off acting so sweet and then turning around to verbally slap someone in the face? At first Nel wanted to protect Mayu from Albel before he told her off in his special way, but now _she_ wanted to be the one to open the 'maggot's' eyes. But before her hand could come up to slap her, another, stronger hand held her arm down.

"Mayu, I need to talk to you alone," Albel said as he gave Nel his drink to hold.

"Of course Albel-sama!" she smiled before sticking her tongue out at Nel's stunned expression.

Albel had gone to retrieve some punch, only to spit it back out at the intense sweetness. He could also tell that there were traces of alcohol in the drink, but he had to wonder who would have done it since his father had promised on his honor as a knight that he wouldn't spike the punch this time. As he returned, he did hear what Mayu had said, that she loved him and she was quite serious about it. Glou had taught him many things, including what to do when something like this happened.

Glou had told him that 'If a girl loves you and you can not return the feelings then you must be a gentleman, sit the girl down, and kindly tell her that you do not feel the same way for her …otherwise said girl will start a fanclub and stalk you for the rest of your life.' No, he did not want any stalkers, so that meant he was going to be a gentleman about it and tell Mayu sincerely. He was able to stop Nel in time from pummeling the girl (but don't get him wrong, he really wanted to help Nel in beating her up) and got her to hold his cup as he led the nuisance to a secluded area in the ballroom. In the back of his mind, he secretly hoped that Nel would unconsciously take a few sips of the tainted drink just so he could see her drunk again.

"So Albel-sama, what did you want to talk about?"

He inwardly cringed at the nickname before he snapped, "For starters, don't call me that."

* * *

Nel looked quite ridiculous standing there with her mouth open. Did Albel just leave with Mayu to be alone with her? She tried hard not to jump to conclusions, but with the uncharacteristic politeness he used with the girl, she didn't know what to think. Albel was _never_ nice to her and yet he was a gentleman to Mayu? She glanced at the golden colored (and strangely cloudy) drink before setting the cup down on a nearby table. She couldn't take it anymore! She needed to know what was going on, even if it meant having to stoop so low as to eavesdrop on them. True, as a spy eavesdropping was a necessary skill, but as long as it involved finding out what Albel was up to, then she considered it low.

She easily found a good hiding place close enough to where she could hear them and far enough to where they couldn't see her. But unfortunately, she couldn't see them either.

"Okay, I have many pet names for you. I'll just experiment around until I come across one you like. …So now that we are here, how about a quick make out session?"

Nel's eyes bugged out at Mayu's suggestion and was worried when Albel remained silent. Thankfully the silence was broken by a disgusted "…no." by him before she could suspect that they really were making out.

"…Fine, we can do that later then," her ever annoying, cheerful voice rang out after his refusal, "So what did you want to tell me? Oh, wait you're trying to ask me out aren't you? Of course I'll go out with you! Let's see I'm free tomorr-"

Suddenly her voice was muffled, most likely because he covered her mouth with his hand as he continued in a calm, but straining tone, "I'm not asking you out. We're here because I heard that you have feelings for me."

"Well duh! Of course I love you, and I know you feel the same." Nel resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Now it sounded like Mayu was trying to live a fantasy to escape from the truth.

"That's just it, I've never said that I loved you. In fact, I don't even know who you are. You just appeared one day and refused to go away. Listen to me and listen well: I. Do. _Not_. Love. You," he told her slowly so that even Roger could understand.

"So…You're saying that you just want to be friends?" Her voice quivered pathetically like she was about to cry.

"No! I don't even want to know you exist. Go find yourself another maggot as dim-witted as you and leave me alone," he sneered and then added as an afterthought, "…And also leave Nel alone while we're at it. Neither one of us is stupid so we won't fall for your pitiful acts."

How suspiciously nice of him to include Nel in this… Either way, Mayu's pained wails signaled the end of the conversation. Albel didn't care to learn how to comfort crying girls (actually he just didn't care period) and left her there. It happened so quickly that Nel didn't have a chance in running back to where he left her. He stared at her like he wasn't surprised, leaving her to have a sneaking suspicion that he knew she was eavesdropping all along. But for some reason, she didn't care. In fact she felt pleased and couldn't hold in that satisfied smirk.

"Relieved that I got rid of the maggot?" he asked casually as he leaned against the wall next to her.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" she countered as she put on a rather convincing, confused look.

"Please cerise, just admit it. You were jealous," he replied accusingly with a grin.

"Jealous of what?"

"Jealous of her. You were worried that she was going to take your place by my side." Nel froze at what he had said as it felt like her heart stopped beating. What did he just say?

"…Don't put too much into that. What I meant to say was that you were worried that she was going to be closer than a friend to me. …And no I don't think of you as a 'friend', but you are worth more than the other maggots and that's why I choose to hang around you…." Now he was rambling. That wasn't like him, and it sounded too suspicious.

"Alright, who are you and what have you done with the real Albel the Wicked?" she asked in a deadpan tone. He began to realize what he was saying and then made a face.

"Damn…that spiked punch was stronger than I expected…I must be slightly drunk," he muttered, earning a sigh of relief from her. Now _that_ made sense because for a moment, she thought that he was trying to say that he had feelings for her and tried to cover his slip up. Not that the information wouldn't have been appreciated, but it was unlike Albel to say things like that while sober and that's why she was concerned. Still, she knew that he couldn't possibly have any feelings towards her and didn't get her hopes up by his words.

"Hmph, I see you lost my glass…pity, I was hoping to get my father to drink it."

"Wait…so the punch was spiked? I thought Glou said that he wasn't going to do that this time?" she wondered when it all registered.

"He did, but that doesn't mean someone else couldn't have done it."

"But who else would do such a thing…?" Before Nel could finish that thought, she spied two blondes heading their way and it all came together, "…Cliff…"

"…And the worm," Albel finished.

"Mirage," she corrected.

"That's what I said. The worm…and her enormous, ape-like maggot," he replied, making her shake her head in mock disgust.

"Well, well, if it isn't Captain Jack Sparrow and…uh," Cliff trailed off as he thought of what character Nel could resemble.

"Careful maggot, you might get a headache from thinking too hard," Albel muttered while crossing his arms.

"So are you guys having fun?" Mirage inquired as Cliff glanced at Albel in shock.

"Obviously not as much fun as you're having," Nel replied, thinking about the tainted drinks, "Though I suppose it's the only way to keep Cliff from going insane since he isn't used to parties like this."

"Oh, but we've only just begun," Mirage smirked darkly, complimenting her costume.

"…That's not good. What are you two up to?"

"Well I guess we can give you a hint," Cliff started and then cleared his throat, "'_Of__ all the things we've done in the past_'"

"'_Tonight at eleven will be a blast_'" the female prankster finished beside him.

"A rhyme? …Apris… _What are you going to do_?" Nel asked, feeling a little panicked. It wasn't often that they acted like this. Usually a rhyme was given to the person targeted by the prank, but Cliff had said that this was a hint.

"Sorry there, poppet," Cliff chuckled while mimicking a pirate from his favorite movie, "But that's all you get. Come on Mirage, it's almost time."

"W-wait!" the red haired pirate called out as they turned to leave, but it was a barking sound that made them stop. …A poodle's bark.

"Prissy!" Cliff looked ready to jump into Mirage's arms as they frantically searched the floor for the attack poodle.

Suddenly the dog appeared and quickly ran past them, not once stopping to growl or bite the large teen. Prissy was also dressed up as well with a strange blue hoop skirt around her middle, the usual rhinestone collar, and a matching rhinestone tiara on her head. Just as Cliff was about to relax, another creature ran passed them, hot on Prissy's trail. This creature was nothing more than a ball of thick white fur with short legs and large green eyes on top.

"Hey, Fluffy!" Cliff shouted towards the creature, earning disbelieving stares from Albel and Nel. Fluffy was _real_? They thought the 'dimension traveling' creature was a product of Cliff's drunken mind. Fluffy skidded to a halt for a brief moment to glance at Cliff. He then smiled, showing off rows of razor sharp teeth, before he saluted and then ran off again.

"That was …Fluffy? …But I didn't drink any punch," Nel protested as she tried to make sense of what happened.

Mirage shook her head with a smile and explained, "_Fluffy_ is real, the 'author' is what Cliff makes up when he's drunk."

"Yeah, she can write some pretty good stories…" the male troublemaker sighed as he led his date away.

"She? I thought it was a 'he'?" Mirage inquired.

"No, it's a she and I think her name was Mist or Blue something …or was it Lor? …Eh, we need to go get drunk sometime."

Soon the duo was gone, leaving behind a bewildered pirate and her captain. No amount of therapy could correct what just happened.

"…We shall never speak of this moment again," Albel eventually replied as he tried to forget the fluffball.

"Agreed."

"It's almost 11:00, we should head outside before this 'blast' they speak of happens," he suggested as he grabbed her arm and started heading towards safety.

"Good idea…Baka-kun," she smiled before he turned to face her.

"What did you call me?"

"Baka-kun. It's a fitting name for you and I'll be calling you that as long as you call me cerise," she explained, enjoying the fact that he didn't like his new name.

"I thought I was an asshole?" he pouted sarcastically.

"You are, but that's your classification. Baka-kun is a nickname for you."

"So then you're calling me names again, huh cerise?"

"…Shut up…Baka-kun."

"Don't call me that…cerise."

Mayu watched with a sigh as the 'happy' couple traveled to the balcony. She was hoping she could win Albel's heart, but now it was obvious that she was destined to be alone. But it seemed that Apris was smiling down on her after all when she sensed someone beside her. It was a man wearing thick round glasses and had a lightning shaped scar on his forehead that was surrounded by his naturally shaggy, brown hair. It was Leiber dressed as Harry Potter.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" he asked with a knowing glance at the spot where Albel and Nel were. Mayu sniffled as she slightly nodded her head.

Leiber then gently lifted her face up to look at him, "You know, you are a very pretty girl and you deserve someone better than him."

"R-really?" she whimpered. She had somewhat of a crush on Leiber, but he was so obsessed with Maria that she didn't even bother to try to gain his attention. But now that he was here instead of stalking the blue haired girl, did that mean…?

"A-are you trying to ask me out," she inquired shyly, afraid of another rejection. Leiber coughed as his cheeks turned a shade of red.

"W-well…yeah…th-that is if you want to I mean," he stuttered before she let out a small giggle.

"I'd love to!"

Happy endings are nice, but just then, Cliff and Mirage's version of a 'happy ending' started. The first firecracker exploded in a flower vase near the wall, alarming several nobles and making the ladies scream in pure terror. The second one caused an uproar as the guests thought that the castle was haunted or under attack. Glou and Nevelle had long since stopped running around and were talking about blades when the explosions began. When they figured out what was really happening, they pulled their wives to safety before helping out with the mayhem. When the firecracker under the refreshment table went off, the table jolted up before a lot of smoke rose up from under the table cloth, making the people around it scamper away quickly.

There was another explosion near the throne where Romeria and Lasselle were. It made the startled queen fall back into her throne where she sat on a whoopee cushion that Glou had placed there while Lasselle fell over and landed head first into the punch bowel and promptly became victim to 'Fayt's Super Energy Drink'. The only people not affected by the explosions were Luther, Welch, Steeg, and Marietta as they laughed over the word 'poo', thanks to the effects of the spiked drink. Captain Albel the Wicked and first-mate Cerise cautiously peered inside at the mess as the last few firecrackers went off and were glad that they had the foresight to escape in time.

In the middle of all the chaos was Cliff and Mirage as they watched the beauty of their prank unfold. Mirage decided to make the moment special by wrapping her arms around her boyfriend and giving him a big kiss that he eagerly returned. The night soon ended with no one discovering that the King and Queen of Pranks were the ones responsible for the fiasco, though Lasselle did a lot of finger pointing at them. And in the end no one would remember the day that the pirates of the Aquarian Ball were the only ones (besides Cliff and Mirage) who didn't get something splattered all over them.

* * *

Okay I admit it, I saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean, but Albel and Nel's costumes were planned long before the trailers came out, I swear! I also have an extra note to point out, Steeg's newest surname came from one of my original characters on Fictionpress who goes by the name of Ryuu Yukio. Frighteningly enough, before I was done with that scene, I noticed that I had Steeg acting just like him too… Anyway, once again, go check out my new fic 'Past, Present, and Future' if not for the revolutionary Glophia goodness, then for the small Alnel scenes.

Oh and before I forget, Raven the Dark Angel has an Alnel website and she hopes to gather all she can of Alnel fanfics (including lemons) and fanart so if you want to contribute, or go read and look at eye candy to your heart's content, then stop by. You can find the link on my profile page or in the forum (…though I think that link is old since she has moved the site recently). Raven also has a message board running there as well as a review system so you can discuss the stories with the authors or talk about anything Alnel there. Okay, I better start working harder on the next chapter before I have another two month delay, C ya!


	15. The Great Fittir Chase

I'm so sorry for taking this long to update. At first I had the second chapter of my Glophia typed out and then when I started this chapter, my computer motherboard burned out! It took a month to get it fixed. After that I started writing and then college started up again…but I continued writing until I realized that I had written enough for two chapters! I guess I wasn't paying attention since I had to draw a cartoon every week for my animation class and write Java programs. This chapter is officially the longest one yet and now that I have a better internet connection, I don't have to split it in fear of a slow upload. I hope you enjoy this new, very long update!

And no I don't own Star Ocean or any of its characters, I just own Prissy the Attack Poodle and the daughter of Romero, who is also known as Albel's mom

Chapter 15

It was daybreak in Peterny and the air was damp and foggy. Dew settled in the blades of grass, but with the moisture in the air, it went unnoticed by the small Menodix boy as he ran through the streets. Roger had been jogging since five in the morning and didn't stop until he came across the residential area. He then pulled a piece of paper out from the pocket of his pants and searched for the address matching the one he had hastily scribbled down on the paper. He had spent hours on the phone talking to Melt and Dribe to get the information, but he ended up not getting enough time to finish his homework. Oh well, math was a useless subject anyway. He figured that as long as he had fingers and toes that could help him count to twenty then he would be fine. Two streets and seventeen houses later, he found a match. A grin managed to form on his features as his eyes trained on the front door of the house. Now if only he had the idea to actually go up to that door and knock…

Ursus let out a long yawn before he gently scratched his bottom and opened the door with his free hand. As apart of his usual morning ritual, the giant was about to bend down and retrieve the newspaper for Piccolotto to read with his breakfast. The traditional routine was shattered though when he noticed the boy with cat-like ears and a raccoon like tail standing in the middle of the Rossetti lawn, staring back at him. Or was the little guy looking at the house? Ursus couldn't tell. He spent a good ten minutes staring blankly at the strange boy before he slowly stepped back into the house and carefully closed the door. He was seen again minutes later with Gonnella in tow.

Ursus pointed at Roger as the clown tried to figure out what was going on. When he couldn't come to a conclusion, Gonnella started whispering something to the giant that resulted in a heated argument about what the Menodix was doing here and what to do about him. The argument was cut short when Quantestorie appeared and began shouting a poetic proclamation that had something to do with 'destiny' and 'true love'. The giant and the clown glared at the intruder before they all went back inside. The next time they came back out, they had Piccolotto come out with them. The poor theatrical leader was just as clueless as the other men. It seemed that the mystery was going to be left unsolved until Dulcinea came out to find out what the commotion was about.

As a woman, Dulcinea knew exactly what was going on and promptly whacked everyone upside the head and ordered them to go back inside. She gave Roger a knowing smile before she closed the front door. Roger only blinked in confusion and curiosity as the events unfolded. He was beginning to suspect that he had the wrong house, but all his doubts vanished when the door cracked open and a half asleep Peppita was shoved out.

_"Score!"_ Roger thought happily as he ran up to the actress, "Morning Peppita!"

"Morning…" she slurred, "What are you doing in my bedroom?"

It wasn't long before she realized that she was outside and that she didn't have her backpack or anything to eat with her. She quickly turned to open the door only to find it locked.

"Hey!" she called as she frantically pounded on the door. If she didn't have her morning meal, then she was going to be a rather irritable girl and her teachers wouldn't appreciate that, "I didn't finish getting ready yet!"

Suddenly the door opened to reveal Ursus holding out her backpack, "Here you go lil' lady."

"What about breakfast?" Peppita cried when he went back inside and locked the door again. Roger remembered that he had a granola bar left over from the lunch he stole from Lucien in his backpack and quickly rummaged through to get it.

"Here Peppita, it's not much but it should be enough," he offered shyly as he held out the bar that was wrapped in shiny green paper. She only stared at it for a few moments before her eyes widened and a hand shot out to grab the food as if she feared that he was going to take it away. The wrapper was quickly torn asunder as the starving actress took a big bite. Normally such an act was considered un-lady like, but since Roger had worse manners, he thought that it was kind of cute.

Once she had consumed half of the granola bar, her chewing slowed as she cast a glance to the Menodix, "Thanks Roger, you're a life saver!"

"No problem!" he grinned as he placed his hands behind his head. When she swallowed the contents in her mouth, she began to wonder why he was here of all places.

"…Hey, why are you here anyway?" she inquired, voicing her thoughts.

He looked at the ground and shuffled his feet, "Oh I was taking a morning jog from my house and figured I'd come over and wait for the bus with you since I was in the neighborhood."

"A jog? Roger, you live in Surferio! That's over twenty miles away from here!" Peppita screeched in shock.

"Yeah, well… an athlete must always be willing to push themselves and exercise hard."

"I suppose so…" she replied with a soft smile. As if he was an athlete! She knew better, but still… there was nothing wrong with a good workout, "You must have had to eat breakfast really early!"

"Actually I don't eat in the mornings, don't have time to, ya know," Roger replied sheepishly with a chuckle. Peppita was raised to eat in the mornings, so hearing Roger say that was like finding out that her best friend murdered her cat because it kept crapping in her bed. …Which in her opinion was a terrible thing, the poor kitty.

"But breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" she protested and then turned her gaze to the half eaten granola bar, "…here."

Roger started at the food in surprise, "B-but it's yours!"

"I've eaten enough to tide me over until lunch, you can have the rest. You need it."

A million things were going through his mind like how kind and generous Peppita was to him even after all the bad things he said to her in the past and that Peppita's mouth had been on that bar so eating after her would be like indirectly kissing her. He slowly took the food with a small thanks and a blush. They waited in content silence for the bus as he ate the rest of the granola bar. He couldn't wait to tell Melt, Dribe, and especially Lucien that he indirectly kissed a girl!

(Last Saturday)

It was a long and hard struggle. Maria had put up a good fight, but Fayt was better at the game, despite the fact that he created it. It was no surprise that he won. The game was a mix sports/RPG that featured basketball and had a two player part. The graphics were amazing and the gameplay was smooth- it must have taken a really advanced game engine to create it. Maria had no doubt in her mind that Fayt was capable of coming up with his own game engine, but this was far more than what an intermediate hacker could come up with. In fact, it kind of looked familiar…

"Well I guess we should call it quits, it's getting late and I'm getting tired," Maria suggested, remembering the promise she made to Sophia to make Fayt stop playing after a while. He looked like he wanted to protest as she sat up to turn off the console, but did nothing to stop her.

"I suppose so. I forgot to eat dinner anyway. …So what did you think of the game? Was it boring or…?"

"It was great! I don't think any company could have pulled off a sports/RPG like you did. In fact I'm surprised it's not already out in the market."

Fayt grinned with a blush as he ran his fingers through his messy blue hair, "I'm relieved to hear that. I only hope that it will become an actual game released to the public."

"Of course it will!" she reassured with a confident voice.

Maria stood and walked Fayt to her front door. He paused at the door knob, like he wanted to say something else and then glanced at her. She was trapped by his captivating green eyes and found herself leaning closer to him. Her mind was swarmed with a thousand thoughts as she wondered if Fayt was really going to kiss her. He wasn't pulling away, _he_ was the one who leaning towards her! Maria held in her glee as she realized that she was going to share her first kiss with Fayt…that is until she noticed someone watching them from upstairs. Her mother had a huge grin on her face as she tried hard not to be noticed.

"W-well, thank you for coming by. The game was really fun. Really. I'll see you Monday!" she stuttered as she opened the door and all but shoved the blue haired boy out. There was no way she was going to kiss him in front of her _mother_! …But who's to say that he was going to kiss her? Maybe it was all in her mind. Too bad she wouldn't ever find out now.

Fayt nearly had a bounce in his step as he walked home. He was glad _someone_ liked his new game. He hadn't gotten any feedback from the others he had asked and Sophia wouldn't even try it because she didn't like sports. When he reached his home, he pulled out his keys and found that the door was already unlocked. Strange. He knew that his parents weren't home. They were almost never home. Fayt frowned before he cautiously went inside to the darkened living room. When he flipped on the light switch, he found Sophia sitting on his couch with a grim expression on her face.

"You do have a home you know," Fayt said as he visibly relaxed.

"I know…"

"I thought you said that you had things to do today. At least that's the excuse you gave for not going to that ball." He placed the video game in the pocket of his jacket so she couldn't see it before he walked toward the end of the couch.

"…I did." This wasn't like Sophia. Normally she'd have more to say than two words. Something was bothering her, but he couldn't place what…

Suddenly he remembered the argument they had had a few days ago and the things that he had told her, or more precisely what he _didn't_ tell her, upset her. He knew he was in the right not to tell her anything, after all, it was none of her business, but when it came to secrets, she just _had_ to know. His blood ran cold when he figured out why she was here, "…You searched my room, didn't you?"

She only raised her head to look him in the eye as an answer. She didn't have to say anything, he just knew that it meant 'yes'. How could she violate his privacy like that? True, there was nothing in his room that he was hiding, but still…

"How could you?" he nearly yelled.

"I was _worried_ Fayt. You have been acting jumpy and afraid that someone was going to come up and attack you from behind," she said in a tone similar to his as she stood up quickly.

"I told you that it was none of your business! Why won't you leave me alone? You never went this far before."

"Usually when you're hiding things, I let them be and I was going to let you get away with this too since you seemed so happy. But now you seem paranoid and I want to know why so I can help you. Just tell me what is going on. Is it Luther? Is he trying to attack you? Did you make a deal with him?"

"No! Nothing like that. Look Sophia, this has nothing to do with you and I would prefer that you stay out of it." He tried to reason with her, but knew that it was not going to satisfy her.

"And it's okay that Clair is involved?" she asked incredulously, "Why are you hanging out with her so much? What does she have to do with whatever you're doing?"

A lecherous-like smirk appeared on his face before he leaned closer to her and replied in a slow voice, "Well you see, Clair and I are having _relations_ and-"

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" Sophia screamed in frustration. She was close to tearing her hair out, but instead grabbed Fayt's arm to prevent him from walking off, "Fayt, be serious. I care about you a lot. I don't want to see you get hurt. Just please…tell me."

The blue haired boy sighed as tears began brimming in her eyes. He could tell that they were real tears too, not the fake crying act she usually pulled to get something she wanted. She was telling the truth, "I care about you too, Sophia and I don't want you to get hurt either. That's why I won't tell you."

"But why? Don't you trust me anymore? We've been telling each other our secrets since we were little kids and I never once told anyone the secrets you've shared with me," she pleaded as a tear finally escaped and rolled down the smooth skin of her cheek.

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that the more people who know about this, the bigger the scandal if someone caught me," he said gently as he wiped the tear away with his thumb.

"S-Scandal!" she squeaked with wide eyes, "…Even if you are caught, how will they know I know about it? You know I'm good at acting."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't understand…" he trailed off when he noticed the calculating look in her eyes. Great, now she was up to something.

"But would Maria understand?"

"What does she have to do with anything?" he quickly countered.

"You hang around her almost as much as you hang around Miss Clair," she replied accusingly, "She knows, doesn't she?"

"I haven't told Maria anything…and don't bother asking Clair, you'll get her in trouble," Fayt answered before he glared at a nearby wall. Sophia stayed silent for moment before she yanked his arm to get him to look at her.

"Fine, I won't bother Miss Clair. But if Maria asked, would you tell her?"

"What are you getting at?" he shook his head in disbelief, "I would tell her the same thing I'm telling you!"

"Oh really?" Sophia knew Fayt's weakness…and Maria had an excellent ability in bribing.

"Sophia…" he eventually sighed, pulling her from her plotting, "I don't know when, but there will eventually be a time when I can safely tell you what's going on because everything will be in the clear. I swear when that time comes, you will be the first to know."

"So I'm supposed to wait like a good little girl and pray that you don't get in trouble?" she shouted in annoyance, earning a smile from him.

"Yes."

"Fayt I swear someday…" she trailed off in her threat as a new thought crossed her mind and then she smiled sweetly, "Okay, but you better keep your promise and you better not get caught. Also, this better be a good reason to keep this from me and your friends!"

He was taken back by the sudden change of heart, but decided to accept it for now. At least this was somewhat of a promise that Sophia would drop it, "I promise. Now let go of me so I can go to sleep. It's late."

"Fine, go to sleep you big baby," she teased as she let go of his arm and then headed for the front door to go home.

"Yes mommy…" he retorted sarcastically in a pinched voice to sound like a toddler.

(Back to Present)

"Sophia?" No answer.

"Sophia!" the voice persisted before the brunette felt herself being shaken. She cracked open one eye to stare at the shocked face of one Maria Traydor.

"Hmm?" she inquired in a kind tone as the blue haired girl tried not to leave her jaw hanging open for too long.

"…Are you okay? I mean I can understand that you are having a fight with Fayt and that's why you asked me to switch places with him, but I'm going to draw the line when I find _you_ of all people asleep on the bus."

"Why? You sleep on the bus all the time."

"Yeah, but that's me. You _never_ fall asleep on the bus. It's like you somehow get enough sleep at night," Maria protested with worry for her friend.

"…Well, this time …I didn't get enough sleep last night," Sophia admitted slowly. Maria cast a glance at Fayt for a moment and found him sitting quietly beside her with his eyes closed. He may have been no longer with them, but she didn't want to take the chance in waking him.

"_Does it have something to do with Fayt?_" she mouthed to Sophia, earning a small nod from her, "_What did he do?_"

"_I'll tell you later. Also I need to ask a favor from you,_" the brunette mouthed back.

"_What is it?_"

"What are you two talking about?" Both girls straightened up upon hearing Fayt's voice. Apparently he wasn't sleeping at all and was suspicious when it suddenly became quiet.

"Oh…We're trying to solve the mystery of Maria's secret admirer," Sophia recovered as the blue haired boy glared at her.

"Secret admirer? What secret admirer?" he inquired curiously.

"Where have you been? We found that Maria has two secret admirers and I have a feeling that one of them is you-know-who," Sophia said while discreetly pointing at Luther near the front of the bus, "But we don't know who the other is."

"Oh I found out who it was," Maria answered, remembering her last encounter with Leiber. She never did get around to telling Sophia about it.

"Y-you did?" Fayt stuttered as Sophia nearly bounced in her seat.

"Really? Who?"

"It was Leiber. The chocolates were from Luther, but he told me that he stole them from him and gave them to me and he told me that he forgot to switch the cards. And I'm pretty sure he was also the one who sent the flowers and that box. …Well at least he told me he knew what my favorite flower was."

"…Are you sure it was Leiber sending you the other gifts?" Sophia asked skeptically. She had a feeling that something didn't fit and wanted to make sure that Maria had made the correct guess.

"Yeah… wait, I still have the card he gave me after the cafeteria episode," she muttered as she rummaged through her backpack. She then pulled out the little card and gave it to the brunette. Sophia studied it for a long time before she pulled out her collection.

"Maria…these don't match. Leiber's writing is messy, but not as messy as the writing on the other two cards."

"You mean…?" This couldn't be happening. Why won't the mystery die?

Sophia nodded once, "There is a third secret admirer…"

"Wow, I hope you'll find out who it is," Fayt said in a way too smug tone. He was smiling as leaned back in his seat, making Sophia suspicious.

"That look…what are you up to?"

"Umm…" Maria started with a blush, "…He's trying to push what looks like your book bag back towards you."

Of course she would be blushing because with the new seating arrangement, Fayt's leg was brushing against hers as he tried to get the bag over to Sophia. Sophia glared at the blue haired boy before grabbing her backpack. As soon as the front flap was opened, she promptly let out a short scream as she dropped it, allowing several pairs of dirty socks (whose smell could almost rival Coach Adray's) to spill on the floor.

"Thanks for doing this Sophia. I could never get those to fit in the wash with my other clothes," Cliff grinned from his seat by the window.

"Cliff! You can't expect Sophia to do _your_ laundry!" Maria scolded as her poor friend started turning green at the thought of touching the socks and the fact that they had _touched_ everything that was in her bag.

"…But Fayt said that it was okay…"

"FAYT!" Sophia screamed when he was mentioned, "I will so get you for this! ...And Cliff, I'll get them done by tomorrow…"

"Thanks, you're a life saver…" he started to say but she wasn't finished.

"…But you will owe me."

The prankster's eyes widened for a moment before a smirk appeared on his face, "I see you have learned well…perhaps too well. What ever your request is, please remember that I have a girlfriend."

"Oh please, like Sophia will ask you to do something perverted…" Maria scoffed as she crossed her arms. Suddenly the slender brunette leaned across both Maria and Fayt to reach Cliff and began frantically whispering in his ear. There were occasional inputs of 'oh really?' and 'hmm' from Cliff as he glanced in Fayt and Maria's direction every now and then.

"You want me to do _that_? …Are you sure you're not Mirage in disguise? No wait, this _is_ something you'd suggest," he said as she settled back into her seat. The blue haired duo was curious to know what Sophia had told him, but they knew they were going to get evil chuckles in reply if they bothered to ask.

Unbeknownst to the group, there was a small device under their bus seat that sent everything they had said straight to a certain person sitting at the front of the bus. Luther smirked when it became quiet back there. He had heard everything that was said. It seemed that Sophia was desperate to know Fayt's secret and he finally found who was responsible for stealing the box of chocolates he had purchased for Maria. And…apparently Sophia isn't all that innocent. Perhaps there _was_ a use for her after all. All Luther had to do was say the words she needed to hear and then she would probably do anything he asked, but before he did that, he needed to see how well the young matchmaker could follow orders. With a plan thought out, he decided to busy himself by contacting Berial and Belzeber to inform them of their newest job… after all Leiber's actions could not go on unpunished. Unfortunately for Luther, Roger ended up finding his spying device under his seat and stuck it up his nose in an attempt to make Peppita laugh. What a waste of good technology…

Meanwhile, at the school entrance, Mirage was waiting for everyone to show up as she sat on the edge of the stone wall that lined the stairway. Throughout her life, she had heard some pretty strange things (most of them coming from Cliff's mouth) and usually didn't react to them because she figured that she had heard everything. But when she heard snippets of Albel and Nel's conversation, she thought she was going to fall down the staircase in pure unadulterated shock.

"We really have to do it today!" Nel yelled in frustration at the Wicked One.

"I don't want to do it here in this filthy place. We should wait until after school and do it at my house. That way we won't be interrupted by maggots," he sneered, looking clearly annoyed that 'it' had to be discussed now.

"But your parents might be home and we don't want them to know about it!"

"Point taken, but gossip can travel fast and eventually reach our parent's ears."

"…Not if we use Tynave's private gym," Nel added with a sly look, "She gave us permission to use it since the I.S.F.T. signup."

"Heh, are you really that desperate that we have to do this today?" he wondered with a smirk.

"It doesn't have anything to do with desperation, it's just…we need to know what to do and it's better learning sooner than later."

"Fine then, how do you propose we go use this private gym when we have class?" he grinned when he thought he had found a flaw in her plan.

"I can't believe you are willing to hesitate on this, are you scared or something? We go during third period because Miss Farleen won't mind."

"I'm _not_ scared, I just don't want anyone find out about it."

"Who's going to know? They'll just think-" Nel was cut off when Albel pointed at Mirage who was behind her.

"The worm might," he said in a smug tone.

"Mirage!" Nel squeaked in surprise as she turned to face her. She was so wrapped up in arguing that she hadn't notice the prankster's presence, "Y-you didn't hear anything, right?"

Mirage only casually shrugged. True the conversation did sound suspiciously like…well she didn't even want to think it. Either way, 'do it' could mean so many different things and she had learned the hard way not to jump to conclusions. So perhaps they were talking about something different…despite how they had a darker, passionate look in their eyes (though the troublemaking girl failed to think that it was because they were both angry at each other…again). Plus…poor Nel was standing there, hoping that one of her good friends haidn't hear a word they had said and wouldn't go telling anyone else. Mirage might just be able to do that…probably.

"Hmm? I think you did just say something a second ago…about skipping class for something? Or perhaps I was just hearing things?" Mirage inquired in a sweet sounding voice, earning a groan from the red haired girl.

"What is your price?" she muttered warily.

"The nice black leather whip you keep under your bed."

"…Deal, I don't want it anymore anyway," Nel grumbled before Mirage smirked and replied that she decided that she had been hearing things after all.

"You own a whip?" Albel wondered with a raised eyebrow. He had always known she slept with daggers under her pillows, but …a whip under the bed? In the words of Cliff Fittir, that would be considered 'kinky'.

"Well, y-yeah," she stammered with a blush beginning to show, "I needed it for…uh…"

"Jump rope practice!" Mirage finished in a not-so-helpful tone of voice.

"Yeah…jump- wait, what?" Nel glanced at her with confusion written on her features, "NO! …Daddy made me practice with it to-"

"So let me get this straight, every time you're frustrated, you whip your father to feel better?" Albel guessed with a (dare I say it) perverted grin.

"Gross! Get your mind out of the gutter Baka-kun!" Nel yelled as she shoved him back slightly in anger.

"Baka-kun?" Mirage muttered as the two started yet another argument.

"But cerise, you're the one whose mind was in the gutter."

Mirage shook her head before her thoughts of what they were really talking about returned. She had to get rid of them…

"Well, thanks for the new weapon Nel! I'm sorry you won't get to use it on 'Baka-kun'…you know, like you've always wanted to…"

"MIRAGE!" Nel screamed with her face inflamed. Normally such information (whether true or not) would be interesting to the embodiment of darkness, but he could not overlook the fact that some worm had just called him by that ridiculous nickname Nel had come up for him. If it weren't for the fact that both women anticipated an attack, he would have been strangling the blonde girl so brutally that her male companion wouldn't be able to recognize her.

Nel was doing an excellent job in holding Albel back and quickly suggested that they go inside before Cliff came and really started a fight with him. Everyone knew that Cliff didn't care about Albel's death glare ability (or he was too dim-witted to notice) and would gladly fight him if he was trying to harm his girl. Mirage's plan worked perfectly and the two 'lovers-in-denial' went in just as Fayt and the others rounded the corner. Now that the king and queen were reunited, it was once again time to start the week with a new batch of pranks. But of course Cliff didn't forget Sophia's request so they had to plan for that first… The prankmasters soon left to go plotting, leaving behind one smirking brunette and two slightly concerned bluenettes.

* * *

For some reason, the bell system stopped working right after the first ring and for once it was not a student's (or rather Cliff and Mirage's) fault. Apparently Lasselle had forgot to schedule the man who was supposed to work maintenance on the bell system and the machine finally gave out. In her confusion as to when homeroom was declared over, Clair let her students out twenty minutes early. More precisely, she released Cliff and Mirage onto the principal so he would pay for his negligence. Sophia and Maria headed to their lockers so that they could avoid Nel and Albel since Albel had become really irate for some reason. 

Upon opening her locker, Sophia had a feeling of déjà vu when she found a note taped to the door. In very neat and elegant writing, the note said: 'Give the tape recorder to Maria, she needs to listen to it.'

She glanced into her locker and found the mentioned recorder before she visibly paled. She examined the writing on the note and compared it to the card that had originally come with the chocolates. It was a match…and Maria said that the person who wrote that card was…

"_Luther,_" she squeaked in a soft tone. What was on it? She picked up the tiny device and examined it carefully. Did Luther record a long confession of love on it? …Please, like _that_ would happen. Was it a demand for her to go out with him? That would be more his style, but then Luther was never really that predictable.

"Hey Sophia, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost…" Maria called out in concern only to jump back when the brunette let out a short scream and slammed the locker shut.

"N-nothings wrong!" she quickly assured as she concealed the recorder behind her back. The only way she was going to find out what was on it was to listen to it herself, which meant that she wasn't going to give it to Maria. It was probably better this way, Maria didn't need anymore stress from her admirers.

"O…kay," the blue haired girl said cautiously. She wondered what could have made Sophia so jumpy all of a sudden, but decided not bother her about it…for now anyway, "So what did you want to tell me earlier? You know, about Fayt?"

Sophia blinked as she remembered the conversation on the bus. Now that she thought about it, Luther probably knew about Maria's feelings for Fayt and would try to make Fayt look bad. …The secret! Did the recorder contain information about Fayt's secret?

"Forget about it. I was going to ask you to ask Fayt about that secret 'whatever' he's been up to, but now I figured that it might be a bad idea," she replied, not feeling the need to lie to Maria. But that didn't mean that she was going to tell her everything.

"Oh really? Why is it a bad idea… And why would he tell me?" Maria inquired skeptically.

"I don't know…I figured he would tell you since you might understand better than I would …or something like that. And I figured it would be a bad idea to ask you now because he would know that I sent you." That wasn't really the reason, but after those words left her mouth, she realized that was most likely the outcome if Maria _did_ ask him.

"Are you sure? I could still give it a try if you want…" Maria offered. She didn't like the fact that her friend was acting like this. If Fayt was the problem, then she would go talk to him, even if it was a secret lovers' quarrel. She felt ready to do anything to make her laugh again… Maria even promised herself that she wouldn't make fun of her laugh …just this once though. It was hard not to make a joke about Sophia's laugh.

"No, it's okay. I'll find out some other way and when I do, I know I'll feel a lot better," Sophia assured with a small smile. Maria didn't look too convinced, but didn't get the chance to say anything before a blurry figure rapidly rounded a corner and headed straight for them.

"Maria! Sophia! You have to help!" a young girl cried desperately before she grabbed onto the sleeve of Maria's shirt.

"Mayu? What's wrong?" Sophia asked in a concerned voice when she recognized the terrified girl.

"I-It's Leiber! He's trapped in a locker and I can't get him out!" Mayu sobbed. They didn't need to hear anymore as they made the underclassmen show them where he was. Sure enough there was muffled shouting and banging behind one of the metal doors.

"Stay still, I'll get you out!" Maria ordered before she brought her foot up and carefully aimed it at the handle that opened the door. There was a weak point in the handle, that if you put force on in the correct angle, then it would fall off. That was a trick Mirage taught her. Once the metal piece clamored to the tiled floor, Leiber tumbled out head first and rolled on the ground.

"You okay?" the blue haired girl inquired as she helped him up. He coughed a few times before he nodded.

"What happened?" Sophia added as Mayu ran to hug him. Maria noticed the hug and grinned when she realized that Leiber had found himself another girl, but then she pushed the thought to the back of her mind to listen to his answer.

"Berial and Belzeber attacked me and stuffed me in there. I think Luther found out about the chocolates somehow," he replied before he scratched the back of his head nervously, "But don't worry, I'm sure this would be the last time I'll have to worry about him since we're not fighting for the same girl anymore."

Neither girl liked what he was indicating. Did that mean Luther was taking down all the boys who have a crush on Maria? Did that mean he would go after the guys Maria likes too? Suddenly Leiber leaned closer to Sophia and whispered something in her ear so that no one else could hear.

"_I think he has something worse planned for Fayt, you better watch over him_."

Sophia froze once he pulled away. Of course Leiber knew about Maria's crush, Sophia had told him long before he stopped chasing Maria in hopes that it would discourage him. It was nice to know that he was willing to help after all that had happened. But unfortunately Leiber didn't supply anymore information after that and left with Mayu. What was Luther planning for Fayt? Was it on the recorder?

"It's good to know that he finally got himself a girlfriend. So …uh what did he say to you?" Maria wondered curiously once she was sure Leiber was going to be okay.

"I-I got to go! See you later!" Sophia said in a hurry before she ran off down the hall. Maria was still worried about her, but she had no choice but to dismiss her behavior for now. Then again…Fayt's secret… If she knew his secret, then Sophia would feel better, at least that was what she had said… Perhaps there was something she could do…

* * *

"Seriously?" Cliff asked in amazement as Mirage nodded. After they had left a paint trap over Lasselle's door, it was about the right time to go to first period. Dejison was fortunately asleep since the bells weren't working, allowing the students to slack off and get on the internet or chat with the others. The blonde duo sat next to each other so they could whisper what they wanted to say to each other since the chat rooms weren't private enough. As Fayt was engrossed in a web page he had found, Mirage started telling Cliff about what she heard earlier that morning between Albel and Nel…well about how it sounded, not what they were planning. She wasn't going to break her promise. 

Mirage had to wait until Fayt wasn't paying attention because if he had heard, his little perverted mind would get the wrong idea. And of course the pervert would go straight to Sophia, and Sophia would tell Maria, and then Maria would either be a good friend and tell Nel or sell the information for some fast Fol and _then_ tell Nel. Either way, Nel would find out about it and think that Mirage had betrayed her, resulting in Mirage not getting that whip she had always wanted.

"That's what it sounded like…anyway I promised not to tell about what they were going to do, so that's all I can tell you," she finished while Cliff thought over the story.

"…I can't really see it happening, and yet…it does sound like something they would do. I think I'll ask Nel about it next period," Cliff said as he faced his computer screen again. Mirage paused in her game of solitaire to stare at him.

"Wha? You can't! Nel would think that I-"

"Don't worry, I'll tell her you didn't tell me everything so she'll know you kept your promise," he reassured, "I just want to pull her leg and ask her something that will make her shout out loud during class! Think about how ol' Duke Voxy would react to that!"

"…Alright, but if Nel doesn't give me that whip, then you are going to buy me one!" she warned as her eyes narrowed at him. Cliff slunk down in his seat from her gaze.

"Yes ma'am…"

The rest of the class was spent in silence until Lasselle announced that it was time to change classes over the speaker system. Somehow the principal didn't notice that he got drenched in purple paint and ended up dripping the stuff all over the floor of the hallways where he walked. Though it was certain that he'd figured it out later on that day when he let out a high pitched scream that the whole school heard, but that is another story entirely. When second period finally got started, it was no surprise that it was quiet when Vox started a lecture about the second Greeton war. The only people who were paying attention were Nel and Albel as they asked questions every now and then… Well Nel asked questions and Albel contradicted him at every turn. It took a while, but eventually Vox started talking about something that Nel didn't care about and she soon stopped paying attention.

"Hey Nel," Cliff whispered behind her to get her attention.

"What?" she wondered as she tried keeping her voice down so that Vox wouldn't notice.

"I heard you and Albel have been sleeping with each other. Is that true?"

"WHAT!" she yelled as her face turned an interesting shade of red. Her outburst caught the attention of every single person in the room.

With his lecture now interrupted, Vox faced the class and glared at the red head, "Lady Zelpher, do you have something to share with the class?"

"No sir…"

"Then please hold your tongue till the end of class," he ordered before resuming his speech. Cliff leaned forward again to listen to what Nel had to say in her defense.

"What gives you such an absurd idea that I'm sleeping with Albel?" she whispered harshly.

"Oh a little birdie told me this morning," he replied smugly.

"…Mirage?"

"Yeah, she didn't tell me everything because of some promise."

"Well whatever she told you, it isn't true," she snapped as she turned to face the front before she got in trouble again.

"Oh it isn't, is it? We'll see," he grinned. Though he didn't mean to, Cliff's voice was getting above a whisper and was quickly gaining the attention of the others, especially Albel's. The Wicked One had no clue what they were talking about, but the sound of the prankster's voice was getting on his nerves.

"So how is he? Come on you can tell me," Cliff persisted as Nel shook with rage. But all the fury was forgotten when they realized the duke had stopped talking again and was staring directly at them. Suddenly Albel raised his hand.

"What is it now Nox?" Vox muttered in a tired tone as he tried to compose himself.

"That maggot is disturbing me, can you move him elsewhere?" he demanded while pointing at Cliff. While Vox was impressed that a student actually had the nerve to speak like that to him, he didn't like the fact that Albel was making demands like he was better than him.

"Very well, Fittir, move to the seat in the back…Zelpher, you can move up to the front. If I hear another word from either of you, then you're getting an after school detention," he said. He knew that Albel preferred to sit next to Nel and decided to punish him for speaking out like that by moving her as well. Nel blinked at her sudden good luck. She got to move away from Cliff _and_ Albel? Duke Vox may not be such a bad teacher after all. Now she prayed that her luck wouldn't fade if Cliff and Mirage should start spreading that rumor about her and Albel… The last thing she needed was for Albel to get any ideas from hearing it. He would probably think that she started them or something. Then again, if Mirage wanted that whip so badly, then she wouldn't have to worry…though Nel couldn't figure out _why_ she wanted the whip.

Cliff wasn't quite done with his interrogation when Vox separated them and waited patiently for the class to be over to make his next move. If Nel wouldn't make any comments, then Albel certainly would. If Mirage was there, she would be shaking her head and trying to talk him out of his plan because he was going a little overboard and Albel could only stomach so much of Cliff's antics before he attacked. But she wasn't there, and it still was a miracle that he managed to survive without her around to be his sensible thinking. He was able to catch up to the two before they could escape. He noted in the back of his mind that they were heading the wrong way to the auditorium where Miss Farleen held her SDFC, meaning that they were planning to skip class or something.

"So…" the muscled teen began as he walked beside Albel, "Nel wouldn't give me a straight answer and I figured that you would be more than happy to tell me…"

Nel scowled when she realized what Cliff was getting at as Albel stared, no, _glared_ warily.

"I've been hearing that you-" Cliff was cut off when Nel growled. Now it was one thing if Albel was the one making the death glare because he was a guy and Cliff frankly didn't care because he didn't notice. Nel, however, was a girl, and she happened to have an angry look that was scarier than Mirage's. In fact, if he could compare it to Albel's he would find that it was pretty close to his in effect. Actually, the Wicked One was quite impressed with her threatening glare.

Cliff Fittir, the king of pranks, the most notorious troublemaker in the history of Aquios High since Glou Nox, the teen with muscles as big as Coach Adray's, let out a rather unmanly 'eep' as he looked down at Nel's furious features. The red haired girl took one step closer to the blonde teen.

"One more word, just one more word out of you Cliff…" she threatened. She didn't even need to finish her sentence because her tone said it all.

"I was just curious…" he mumbled in a half-apologetic voice, "It's not really such a big deal, in fact it can be very therapeutic if you guys are really-"

"I'm WARNING you, Cliff," she all but shouted as she took yet another step closer. Albel watched on, amused at the scene as Cliff unconsciously backed away from Nel.

"…Well, you do realize with all the denying and how you're being touchy on the subject means that there must be _something_ going on…"

"CLIFF!" she barked before he could add another comment. It was then that he noticed that her fingers were getting awfully close to the ties of her Death Bringers. While the rule of tying down blades in public places was to allow people to escape while the bearer tries to untie them, even Cliff knew that Nel's fast reflexes would have the blades untied, out of the sheath, and buried deep in his chest in less than three seconds. He let out a sigh of defeat before he glanced at a nearby wall.

"Jeez, okay, I'll stop. If I had known you were on your period, I would have waited to ask next week."

That had done it. Cliff had just unwittingly unleashed chaos and certain doom upon himself as Albel let out a howl of laughter. Albel _never_ laughed in public unless someone was going to die. Luckily, Cliff was able to sense the muscles tensing up on the girl and was able to turn tail and flee just as her fist started flying towards his face. The troublemaker let out a girlish squeal as he fled around the corner. Because of her speed, Nel could have caught him before he even reached the corner, but something, or rather someone, held her back.

"I have two reasons why you shouldn't go after the maggot. One is that you will get in trouble and we won't get to have some of that 'private time' you wanted and two…I will be the one to destroy the maggot. I will not let you take my prey." Albel's hot breath rushed past her ear, making her quickly forget about her killing intent.

"Forget that, next time I see him, he's really going to get it!" she snarled as she secured her Death Bringers back into their sheaths, "I'm only going to beat him up, you can kill him _after_ I'm done."

Albel's eyebrow raised with intrigue, "Why cerise, I've never seen this side of you before, you're really climbing in my favor."

It was an actual honest compliment and if Nel still wasn't so angry from Cliff, then she would probably have passed out from shock. Instead she chose to retort with, "You've seen this side of me every time you anger me, Baka-kun. I can't believe you didn't notice it until it wasn't directed at you."

It was even more of a surprise when Albel only _shrugged_ instead of replying with a comeback for the nickname and the slight insult. Apparently he was more interested in Cliff's previous motive, "So what was the maggot wanting to ask anyway?"

"Uh…you don't want to know," she said with a small blush as her anger quickly faded. Somehow she just knew that wasn't going to work and immediately tried to think of something that would get him to lose interest.

"Considering that it made you so mad, I _do_ want to know," he persisted with an evil smirk.

"…Do you _really_ want to know what is going through the mind of a 'maggot'?" she inquired in a last effort to change his mind.

Albel stopped to think about it. Since when did the mindless drivel of a common maggot like Cliff really concern him?

"Point taken…" he eventually replied, instantly dropping the subject.

* * *

There he was, at his locker. The blue haired boy was completely oblivious to the fact that someone was watching him. His observer fidgeted in the distance, wondering what her next move would be. Fayt was right there, it shouldn't be too hard to go up and ask him what he was doing that made Sophia so worried, right? Maria shook her head. She couldn't believe that she was getting so worked up over this. It wasn't like she was going to tell him her feelings…though she _should_ probably get around doing that too…eventually. She took a deep breath and then forced her feet to move forward. Would Fayt really tell her what's going on? Sophia seemed to think so, but Maria still had her doubts. Why would he tell her something that he wouldn't even tell a friend he had known since childhood? 

She was now right behind him, but he didn't notice because he was rummaging through his locker with a frown on his face. Fayt didn't look like he was in a good mood, so maybe bothering him now wasn't a good idea… But before Maria could turn around and go back, the blue haired boy suddenly faced her with an agitated look.

"Oh, hey Maria," he replied as his face quickly melted into a kind façade.

"Hi…Fayt… Are you okay? You seem a little upset over something," she inquired nervously as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"Someone has broken into my locker and took my camcorder…It was probably Sophia. She has been going through my stuff lately."

"Oh…"

He seemed bitter towards anything concerning Sophia, making her both reluctant in asking and more determined in helping her friend.

"Um…by any chance, Sophia didn't send you here, did she?" Maria nearly flinched from the question. So Sophia was right, he _was_ expecting her. It was almost comical with the way Fayt was sounding so paranoid, but then, that may be the reason why the brunette was so worried.

"No, she didn't send me! I just came to see how you were doing," she quickly replied as she shook her head in denial of his inquiry. It was half true since Sophia ended up telling her not to go see him…

"Oh …in that case, I'm doing great. How are you?" he asked as he started to relax.

"F-fine." She was rapidly losing her resolve as she realized that she may end up breaking Fayt's trust if she continued. Sure, he might tell her, but then she would end up telling Sophia. It would make Sophia feel better, but at the same time there must have been a reason why he wasn't telling her. She should just end her conversation and go…immediately.

"So was there something else you needed?"

"I…need you ask you something." Maria inwardly cursed, she meant that to stay in her thoughts and not be spoken. There was an almost hopeful and intrigued look on his face as he encouraged her to continue, "…But I'm afraid to ask."

"You don't have to afraid. Ask me anything." Fayt's smile was becoming bigger as she fidgeted. How was she going to get out of this mess?

"I…can't, forget about it…" she finally muttered, knowing he wasn't going to force anything out of her. The hopeful look melted away into disappointment.

"You sure?"

"Yes…" Maria nearly squeaked when he moved his head closer to hers.

"I'll still be around if you should change your mind," he replied in a gentle tone as she focused on the lock on his locker. Before she could nod to acknowledge his offer, she noticed something familiar about that lock.

Her eyes widened as a small sound of surprise escaped from the back of her throat, "Did you get a lock from Cliff?"

"Yeah, a few months ago after my last one was broken by Berial. Why?" he gave her a guarded look from the odd question.

"Because Cliff keeps spare keys for the locks, meaning that Sophia wasn't the one who took your camcorder."

Now Fayt was angry, much like how she had found him, but now she was glad to see this. Her brother was in so much trouble now, "He may seem stupid, but he's not dumb enough to go to class with it. He is most likely with Mirage at the other side of the school."

He didn't need anymore information as he stalked off in the direction she had mentioned, but before he was too far away, he stopped and faced her one last time, "Maria, thank you for your help. I shall remember your act of kindness after I take over the world. …I'll give you Greeton."

"Okay Fayt," she smiled and then carefully rolled her eyes. The 'take over the world' joke that he used was getting old and almost getting to the point where others were starting to believe him. …And yet, he still looked cute when he talked about it. She shook her head and walked down the hallway, opposite of Fayt, with a grin. She had it bad for him.

* * *

"No, move like this…" a male voice growled as the sound of an irritated girl was heard. 

"Are you sure?" the girl inquired in a careful tone, "I thought _you_ were the one who was supposed to do the moving."

"I know what I'm doing woman and you're doing it wrong! At this rate we'll never be finished."

"And how precisely do you 'know what you're doing'? Was there someone you could practice this with?"

"My father taught me everything I needed to know …and sometimes my mother helped out too. Well then, cerise, what makes you think that _I'm_ wrong?"

"Because your mother doesn't count and your father is insane. …Besides Daddy knew it better than Glou, everyone knows that. I've done this with Daddy often."

"Ah, and with the whip ready to strike him if one of you messed up?" There was a tint of amusement in his voice as a short pause befell them.

"WOULD YOU DROP THAT ALREADY! …That's just sick!"

There was a dark laugh before the male added, "It's a pity you're giving it away to the worm. I would have put it to good use by using it on you."

"…I can't tell if you're being perverted or trying threaten me in order to force me into following your orders."

"Believe what you wish… but it would be very nice if I could get you to be submissive…obedient, and most of all silent. I'd have you acting like a trained dog within a week!"

"As if! I'd have slit your throat by the end of one day!" the girl shouted in fury. Suddenly it became silent after a feminine grunt was heard.

"…See I knew it. You couldn't handle that move!" the man declared in a smug tone.

"Sh-shut up! I was distracted!"

"Yes I know that you can't take your eyes off of my body, but you need to focus." It was said with sarcasm, but it wasn't certain that his statement wasn't true, "Spread your legs apart a little further so I can have more room to maneuver."

There was another grunt after the girl muttered, "…_asshole_."

"I heard that cerise…"

"…Stupid Baka-kun…"

Mirage kept glancing at the double doors with wide eyes as she worked on getting the grill off of the nearest air duct. She could swear that her eye was twitching from Albel and Nel's current fight. What ever was going on, it sure sounded like things were heating up. Cliff sat slightly beside her with a lecherous grin as he tinkered with Fayt's camera. Little did Mirage know that Cliff had long since stopped listening in on the two and was really focused on something that was recorded on the camcorder. Why were they doing this anyway? It seemed that Nel was already craving Cliff's blood and having both her _and_ Albel mad at him wasn't going to ensure him a long life.

"Cliff, are you sure you want to do this? I mean I appreciate that you're going to buy me the whip if they catch you, but I would like you to stay alive long enough to actually purchase it."

"Hey…Is that all I'm good for to you?" he pouted jokingly.

"For right now, yes," she replied with a teasing smile, "So why are you doing this? You could have borrowed someone else's camera."

"Yeah, but Sophia asked me to scar Fayt for life and I can't think of anything better than recording what ever they're doing in there," he explained as she paused in her work.

"…But if they're doing what _we_ think they're doing then this won't scar Fayt. He would probably like it."

"Yeah, but think of how Fayt will react if Albel knew there was a recording of him and Nel on the camera. Just mentioning the fact that the information could slip to one of the two is bound to make him go pale in the face."

"I see your point…" she agreed eventually and then pulled the metal grate off of the wall, "But I'm more concerned about what will happen if they discover you recording them."

"They won't notice me in the air ducts! Apparently Nel's too distracted in there to sense me and Albel isn't trying to become a ninja. All I have to do is make sure I don't get stuck in there and then record some gold. …Hey, how much to you think it would sell if we turned it into a small movie?"

"…Let's just focus on getting out of this one alive, okay?"

"Fine, I'll see you later in the usual hiding place," he said as he began crawling into the square shaped hole.

"Be careful Cliff!" Mirage pleaded with slight worry before going off to the mentioned hideout.

Inside the private gym, the troublemaker was disappointed to find that Albel and Nel were not doing anything naughty as it sounded like. Instead they seemed to be dancing…or fighting. He couldn't tell which. Either way, it was not what he thought it was, but he ended up starting the camera anyway. Who knows, maybe they are putting up an act before they start doing what they really came here for. Of course Cliff didn't know of their new strategy for the I.S.F.T. so seeing them alone and standing very close together still brought wrong ideas to the mischievous teen.

Nel was standing in front of Albel while his hand was splayed across her stomach. It wasn't a romantic gesture as others would first believe, it was to steady her because she kept losing her balance with the way her feet were placed and with Albel's chest pressed against her back. They tried again to mimic a move from one of the ancient dances only to end up out of synch and looking rather clumsy.

"…Wrong," Albel pointed out again after the seventh failure to master the move.

"I'm beginning to suspect that you are going by a different dance than I am," she huffed in annoyance.

"Or you just stink at this."

Nel glared before she twisted in his grasp to tell him off. Unfortunately the position of her feet and the fact that his foot was placed next to hers made her lose balance and fall to the ground, bringing him down with her. And of course she just had to fall right on top of him.

"Albel!" she cried in a scolding tone that could easily be mistaken for passion on the hidden camera above them.

"What? You were the one who fell, don't go blaming me for this," he said in a surprisingly light tone. One would think he'd be furious by now, but it seemed that he didn't mind. He was even unfazed by the fact that she was straddling him and had one hand on the exposed portion of his stomach from where his shirt had ridden up while the other hand was placed next to his head for balance. Her head towered over his as she tried to use a similar version of his death glare on him, only to fail miserably. Nel was the one who couldn't help but notice the rather compromising position they were in and was afraid to move out of it. It would only make him think that he was intimidating her if she quickly moved off of him and then she'd eventually find herself back into a similar position at the ball the next time she contradicted him.

"I'm not yelling at you for that. I just want to know why you're being so difficult," she eventually declared once she cleared her mind to remember why she was so frustrated."

"I'm not the one being difficult," he scoffed immediately, "You're the one who's rushing into things."

"Well we haven't done anything in weeks! How else are we going to accomplish anything if we don't practice this?"

"For starters, we should slow down and start from the beginning. We are both apparently out of practice and need to relearn everything. Then after we reacquaint ourselves with the basics, we should research the best course of action." It was a good plan, and (as much as Nel didn't want to admit it) he was right. She was ready to rush right into designing their own battle moves, but her plan would have held them back from any actual progress because they didn't remember the original dances as they used to know.

She let out a sigh. She was going to have to admit defeat for once and hoped that Albel wasn't in a boasting mood, "I guess you're …right…"

Nel trailed off when she sensed something odd. Something wasn't right. Although it was faint and far away, there was definitely another presence in the room. If the presence was a little closer, she would have been able to tell who it was, but unfortunately it wasn't and she couldn't pinpoint where it was. Albel was quickly able to detect her cautious demeanor and gave her a questioning glance.

"Someone is watching us," she whispered in reply. They were in a rather large room with high ceilings so whoever it was would have to be plastered up against the wall in order for Nel not to be able to sense them completely …and not to mention that they'd have to have a pretty good hiding place that made it possible to stay hidden from them.

"Oh yeah, now move the hand inside her shorts…" It was faint, but since it was now quiet in the room, it was clearly heard. Albel quickly removed his hand once he found that it was unconsciously resting on Nel's bottom and then glanced around for the source.

Since he was still trapped underneath Nel, he didn't have many places to look except for the ceiling. But that was all he needed to look at since he was immediately able to find a hole containing a familiar face within. Cliff had lowered the camera and had his free hand covering his mouth from the accidental 'Fayt moment'.

"MAGGOT!" Albel snarled before he rudely pushed Nel off of him. Nel rolled over and quickly sprang to her feet before she followed Albel's gaze.

"Cliff! You are so dead!"

The prankster only gave a slightly nervous grin before crawling off deeper into the labyrinth of the air ducts. The Wicked One and his 'possession' instantly left the gym to track him down. If he had gotten them on camera, then they would have to catch him before he got to Mirage because she could edit the material to make them do something embarrassing. Cliff didn't go out the way he came because he knew they would be there waiting for him. Instead, he went in further and exited in a hallway that was far away from the gym.

He jumped down to the floor, brushed off invisible dirt off of his shoulder, and then started waking away while whistling a happy tune. All he needed to do now was get to the AV room and he was home free…

Well he thought he was, until he turned the corner that is. In front of the glass door with the black letters 'AV' on the center, was Fayt and Mirage. It seemed like Mirage was trying to convince Fayt that nothing was going on and that he should go somewhere else. She was probably going to succeed too if the blue haired boy hadn't turned his head to find Cliff.

He made a surprised sound as he turned completely to face him, "So you _do_ have my camera! Why did you steal it? You could have asked me for it!"

"Well uh…it was short notice and I…" the muscled teen tried to come up with an excuse without mentioning Sophia's request. Fayt didn't seem to be in the mood for a made up story and held out his hand.

"Give me back my camera," he ordered in a stern voice.

"But I'm not done with it yet!" Cliff whined as he clutched the device to his chest like a little kid.

"I don't care," Fayt said while shaking his head, "You should have asked for it when you had the chance."

"Well can I borrow it Fayt? You still trust me right?" Mirage asked as she put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Sure, you can have it tomorrow, but I need the camera now," he replied before glaring back at Cliff. Mirage sighed and let her hand fall, but not before discreetly planting a 'Moon Me' sign on Fayt's back.

"There he is!" Cliff glanced behind him to find Nel a few feet away. It wasn't long before Albel came into sight. Apparently those two caught up to him sooner than he expected.

"This ends now maggot!" the crimson eyed demon growled before the look on Fayt's face darkened.

"What did you do?" he inquired with slight panic rising in his tone, "Cliff! What did you use it for?"

The king of pranks was trapped. Behind him were two blade loving psychos and in front of him was someone he could beat up were it not the fact that he was currently his sister's crush. Maria could easily get back at him if he did harm Fayt. They were advancing closer, leaving him little choice but to give up. Suddenly, Mirage pushed Fayt over and moved in front of her boyfriend as Nel was about to lunge towards the camera in Cliff's arms. Thinking quickly, Mirage pulled Nel between her and Albel before the Wicked One could have a chance to attack.

"Run Cliff! I'll hold them off!" she ordered while struggling with the livid red head. The muscled teen paused for a minute, stunned that Mirage was willing to go so far to help him. He then nodded and muttered a word of thanks to his girlfriend before running past Fayt, who was still dazed from the push and trying to get up, and off to freedom.

* * *

_"No problem! If it will make you feel better, I'll pay for half of it." _

_"Oh Fayt! You're so great! I love you!…of course you realize that I-"_

There was another recording in there, but Sophia didn't think she needed to hear it. She wasn't quite sure what she just heard, but it did indeed involve the secret that Fayt was keeping from her and from the sound of it, even Clair was afraid of being caught. Where was this recorded and when? If Luther really was the one who had done this, then he should know exactly what was going on. …But if she were to have the courage to ask him, would he tell her? Luther would most likely laugh in her face and have her do some job before he would give her an answer. And…in the end he _would_ tell her.

Sophia glanced around the corner to where Berial and Belzeber were standing guard, each standing on one side of a door. The mini blinds on the glass window were shut like always, but somehow she knew Luther was in there. The fact that his goons were standing guard didn't really mean much since they often stood there to make others think that he was in when he was really off somewhere else. She took a deep breath and then turned the corner to face the two.

"What do you want?" Belzeber asked in a bored tone. Sophia fidgeted under his gaze and wrung her hands together.

"Can I see Luther?"

"Do you have an appointment?"

She blinked from his question. Since when did anyone have to have an appointment to see Luther? "N-no, I don't, but I-"

"Then get lost!" Belzeber snapped before she could explain anything. There wasn't any use in dealing with them, at least not with Belzeber. If it were only Berial standing guard she probably would have had a chance in getting into the office. Wait a minute… what if Luther's goons knew what was going on?

"…Hey Berial," she started, knowing that Belzeber would just brush her off, "Do you know who this belongs to?"

She held up the recorder and sure enough Berial's eyes widened as a smile appeared on his face, "Oh that's Luther's! He got this recording that's supposed to persuade Maria into thinking that Fayt is in love with someone else. Oh and get this: the other recording reveals that Coach Adray is an actual teacher here! I thought he was just the school mascot!"

Sophia blinked, well that _was_ what the recording sounded like…and she was going to take Berial's word for the second one, "Is that so?"

"What you didn't listen to it?" Belzeber inquired in mild surprise and interest. She didn't expect him to be talking to her any time soon and was somewhat surprised.

"Was I supposed to?" she countered quickly as he shrugged.

"No. Huh, I guess you _can_ follow orders after all," he mused before Berial grinned.

"That means you owe the boss 50 Fol," the shorter goon giggled.

Belzeber only glared at his companion, "…Shut up."

Luther had betted that she would follow his orders? Strange. Sophia only placed that information to the back of her mind before turning back to Berial, "So what was Fayt talking about in the recording?"

"Oh that's easy he was-"

"That's classified information. We can't tell you," Belzeber said sternly as a disappointed look came across Berial's features. He wanted to tell her so badly…

Sophia too looked disappointed, but it was merely a careful mask as she placed the recorder back into the safety of her sweater pocket. She then cast her soulful green eyes towards the goons.

"You guys don't know?"

"We do know, it's just that we can't tell you," Belzeber said as Berial nodded his head in agreement. She tilted her head down towards the ground before glancing back at them though half lidded eyes.

"So then you _don't_ know."

"I TOLD you we know!" Belzeber protested, getting clearly agitated with her.

"Then what was Fayt talking about?"

"I can't tell you," he replied as he looked away from her.

"Because you don't know," she countered.

"I _do_ know! He's trying to…" Belzeber's eyes widened as he realized that he was about to let out the information he was not supposed to reveal.

Sophia inwardly cursed (the curse word being 'poopie'), but didn't let any emotion other than indifference show. Thank Apris for acting classes! She was shocked that Belzeber was the one who nearly spilled since Berial was the one known for his loose lips. Neither goon was very intelligent, but Belzeber did have enough brains to follow his orders properly. No one noticed Berial's fidgeting as he hopped from one foot to the other and bit his lip.

"I can't take it anymore!" he cried once both feet were planted firmly on the ground, "Fayt's trying to-"

"You idiot!" Belzeber snarled after he punched Berial in the stomach, "We're not supposed to tell her anything about th-"

Sophia was getting quite tired of the interruptions as the watch on Belzeber's wrist started beeping. She was so close to finding out, so very close. But it didn't matter once the taller goon glanced at the message LCD on his watch and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, apparently Luther has been expecting you. I must have conveniently forgot. You may enter now," he announced before opening the door for her. Luther had been expecting her to come? This wasn't good…

Inside the door was a rather small classroom that has probably once been used by special education or dyslexia classes. But now the room was dark because the windows were covered and there was an old teacher's desk occupying the center. There were no school posters on the beige walls or any sort of decoration. In front of the desk was a gaudy magenta chair that looked like something taken from Principal Lasselle. And behind the desk, was the cold gaze of Luther amidst the soft yellow glow of the lamps he kept on the desk.

"Why Miss Esteed, you came sooner than I expected. Please sit down, I'm sure we have much to discuss," he offered as he gestured to the only other seat in the room. Sophia silently gulped before doing as she was told. She was in a very dangerous place and the fact was just now beginning to dawn on her. If she should upset Luther, then there was no escape from his anger. With Berial and Belzeber out there, there was no way for anyone to come rescue her. Then again, who would come rescue her since she went without telling anyone. But…this was for Fayt …and Maria. She could not just sit idly by and allow the bully to threaten them into submission. As much as Luther scared her, she was willing to do what it took to protect her friends.

"What is the meaning of this?" she started as calmly as her wavering voice would allow before she held out the small recorder.

"I'm sure you are very much aware of what this means," he countered with a small smirk, "You are a very perceptive girl and you must know of Maria's growing feelings for that boy of yours."

"Fayt…" she muttered in a light whisper. What did he mean by boy of hers? She didn't own Fayt.

"Yes, and despite what you said out there, I know you listened to the recording and I know you were not fooled by it."

"Of course not, Fayt may be a pervert, but he would never…" she stopped herself. She was getting off track from her objective, "I came here for answers to two main questions. What was Fayt really talking about in the recording?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," he replied coolly.

"So you don't know either." She loved using that tactic on others because they always fell for it, but she wasn't so sure it would work on Luther.

"Actually, I honestly don't know. I only came in the middle of the conversation and he never once gave a name to the 'thing' he was speaking of."

She could tell he was being truthful, but it didn't add up. If he didn't know, then what were the goons trying to tell her earlier? And if Luther really did hear them outside, would he really expect her to forget that detail? He caught her frown and leaned his head on his hands.

"Don't bother reflecting on what those two idiots told you. They have been spending the past few days trying to figure out what Leingod has been up to, most of their ideas being mindless drivel of course."

"…Of course," she lightly echoed. If Luther thought she was perceptive, then did he know how perceptive _he_ was? She had never known anyone who could read her actions as if they were reading her mind.

"So what was the other question?" he prodded patiently. It unnerved her that this was the same Luther who sent Berial and Belzeber to throw a random kid into the trash because the kid kept stuttering. Maybe, Sophia reflected quietly, there was still some of the old Luther of ten years ago left in him.

"Why are you after Maria? I know she may have use to you, but I can not condone the fact that you want her to believe that you love her to get her to join you." Her revelations made her bolder and reawakened her long lost advanced vocabulary that she used solely for debates. She now had an ace up her sleeve to protect her should she anger him. Not even Luther's secrets were safe from her and Maria taught her how to use blackmail effectively.

She had expected him to get touchy on the subject, but he ended up letting out a short laugh, "Is that all? Well you pretty much figured it out on your own. I don't love her and the only way to get her to be a loyal servant is to make her love me. Come on Sophie, what was the question you really wanted to ask me?"

Sophia gulped at the nickname and the fact that he somehow _knew_ what her real intentions were. He knew how to make her forget about certain details like his plans for Maria, but she just couldn't forget why she was here. Just last week Luther told her to grow up, a sign that he didn't think much of her, but now he was trying to get her to do something for him and suddenly treating her like his equal? What was going through his mind?

"You're right. What I really want to ask is why are you sending me to deliver the recorder? What makes you think I will let you win Maria over like that?"

"Before I answer that, tell me something: When you first found out about Maria's crush, how did you feel?"

She wasn't sure what it had to do with her question and was reluctant to answer. She could tell him anything and yet she knew he could tell she was lying.

"…I felt…betrayed." The only way out of this was to tell the truth, but she wasn't going to tell him _why_ she felt betrayed. Let him think what he wanted, if he really could read her mind then he should already know.

"So you felt betrayed, and all because of your 'best friend' fell for someone you really like. It seems that the only person in your way to keeping Fayt all to yourself is Maria. Why not help me out, that way she will be out of your way," he offered with an evil smile. Sophia stiffened and she felt as if her blood had suddenly chilled in her veins.

"W-what did you…?"

"That's right, I know of your feelings for Fayt and since he is the very person in my way, I figured we could help each other out…"

"But what about Maria? It's her choice of who she loves! You can't make her love you!" she cried in a small fit of anger.

"Even someone like Maria doesn't want to end up alone. I have my ways to convince her to love me. As for her feelings on Fayt…well that's what the recording is for, she won't know what Fayt really meant and she won't have to know that you still care about him."

"That's not enough of a reason to do this. It won't make Maria happy, nor will it make Fayt happy, and it will certainly not make _me_ happy."

"I was hoping I didn't have to rely on this," Luther muttered with a sigh before he rummaged through one of his drawers. He then pulled out a small pink book with the word 'Diary' written in cursive purple letters. She held in a gasp once she recognized the book. No wonder he knew too much about her!

"My…but how?" she inquired, flabbergasted.

""Let's just say you need to get a lock on your locker too, my dear," he answered sweetly, "So now you have two reasons to do as I say. Is your friendship with Maria that important if it will lose you both your private thoughts and the boy you have known since childhood?"

"I…" she glanced away and stared at the ground. This was getting too risky but… "…Once I used to think that you and Maria would make a great couple."

Luther made no indication that her words were affecting him as he listened to her. For some reason, Sophia felt strangely calm. Perhaps it was because she was sitting on the calm of the inevitable storm that was approaching. When she paused to let her speech sink in and then opened her mouth to continue.

"Back then you were both the same. You lost your parents, like she did, you both had to earn money to help your loved ones." Now she received a response as he slammed his fist on his desk.

"What do you know?" he growled.

"Surprised?" she inquired with a slight frown on her features, "I am one of the very few who knows about your past. Don't insult me Luther, I know all you secrets and I didn't have to go through your personal belongings to get them."

Sophia was now looking him straight in the eye with an unfaltering gaze, "When your parents died, Blair was barely 18 years old and if she hadn't somehow found a way to provide for you, then you both would have been separated. That's why you became a bully, to earn money. It was the same for Maria, her mother was still alive after the accident and she knew she had to earn money to pay for the hospital bill, but in the end, her mother didn't make it…

"Back then you were both so alike, but now, you are not a worthy match for her. Somewhere along the way, long after Blair got a job, you changed. You wanted all the money for yourself. …Why? What happened?"

He had long since relaxed and slid back into his chair. He didn't like the fact that there was still someone in the school who knew about him, but he decided that it didn't matter, "You don't know? I thought you could find any secret?"

"I'm having an off day," Sophia replied flatly, remembering Fayt's secret that she still hadn't discovered yet.

"I want power, and money is power," he stated simply as he slightly raised a hand to emphasize his point.

"And Maria could get you more money, is that it? That's just stupid! There is more to life than power…and power is more than just some shiny pieces of gold."

"And how you would know that, Sophie?"

"I…don't," she finished softly. She had never had the same tragedies as he had and so her views on life were really different. She had no way to convince him otherwise. Luther seemed smug once he realized that he had won the debate. He then arose from his seat, walked around his desk, and helped her out of her seat.

"It seems that our meeting is done for today. Perhaps we can talk some other time, after you've completed your mission."

"I'm not going to deliver this to her!" Sophia cried stubbornly and then threw the device at him. He caught it with ease before he glared at her. She didn't even have the time to blink before she realized that he pushed her against the door and was pinning her.

"You have no choice. You either deliver that recorder to Maria and convince her that I'm a good match for her or I will have your secrets revealed to the entire school," he threatened as he pressed the small recording device into her hand.

"I have to lie to her too? Forget it! I don't care if you show everyone my diary, they won't even remember it after a few years!"

"Even so," he continued calmly as he pulled away, "Be grateful that I haven't offered to tell the authorities about Fayt's little project, whatever it may be."

She stiffened involuntarily," But you said-"

"I wouldn't have to know what it's about. All I have to do is confront Clair and coerce her into telling the truth."

Tears were in her eyes as she gave him the angriest glare she could muster. He was still standing very close to her, but he wasn't pinning her to the door anymore. This allowed her to slide past him and open the door to leave. She made sure to slam the door as hard as she could. Luther only stared at the blinds on the window before lifting a bar up to peer outside.

He didn't like how the meeting had turned out. Around the end, she didn't hold any fear in her eyes, not even when he was towering over her. Was he not intimidating enough today? But that was not what the problem was. The real problem was that he felt a little strange when she glared at him like that. He almost felt remorseful…

The brunette was still standing outside with her hand wrapped tightly around the recording tool. Tears were still threatening to fall, but she managed to keep them back as her hand clenched tighter, almost as if she was trying to crush the recorder in her delicate hand. But after a minute, her body relaxed and her grip slackened as her sorrowful gaze focused on the ground. Luther couldn't help but smirk, she was giving up, he had won.

But what was really going on in Sophia's mind was how she was going to handle this. She was not going to give Maria the Apris forsaken device, but she had to somehow counter Luther before he got Fayt and Clair in trouble. Maybe she could warn Clair… …Luther and Maria really could have made a great couple before he became so corrupted. But now, he was like the evil version of Sophia. Since when did he get so good at obtaining secrets? It was bad enough that he knew so many of her secrets. The fact that he had her diary did explain why he knew her nickname. But her diary was…well she changed a lot during the short time since her diary went missing (or was it a short time?) and most of what she had written wasn't what she was anymore.

Suddenly, Sophia was cut off from her musings when an unexpected savior came to take her current problem away. Cliff was still running from Albel, Nel, and Fayt, trying to outlast them till fourth period when they will have no choice but to quit and go to class. Unfortunately, but fortunately for the small brunette, he wasn't looking where he was going and ended up crashing right into her. Both of them managed to maintain their balance so they wouldn't fall over, but the recorder fell out of her hands and under Cliff's foot where it was accidentally smashed to pieces.

She almost let out a joyous cry when the oppressive object was destroyed, but held it in. She quickly glanced back at Berial and Belzeber who watched on with shocked faces, meaning that there were other witnesses to prove she didn't break it on purpose. But, on closer inspection of the glass window on the door, she noticed that one of the blinds was out of place, meaning that Luther was watching her. Even if he saw it happen, he would still believe that she had wanted it to happen (which she had) if she smiled and then he would probably carry out his threats out of spite.

"Cliff! Watch where you're going! You've completely destroyed my audio recorder!" she scolded in mock fury. She apologized to him several times in her head and swore that she was going to make it up to him later, but then found that the prankster wasn't in the mood for her acting.

All that running had made him rather cranky as he scowled down at her. Technically all this was her fault anyway, "Get over it circus freak, Fayt can buy you a new one!"

"Circus freak?" she echoed as Cliff ran off, "I'M AN ACTRESS!"

It wasn't long before Albel and the others passed by and soon she joined in the chase with them. She wasn't going to let him get away without apologizing to her!

* * *

All in all today was a rather pleasant day for Peppita. The weather wasn't too cold outside, the sun was shining, and people (more precisely boys) were being nicer to her. …Though she couldn't figure out why they were being nice. Roger was being especially nice today. Not only had he given her food and company while waiting for the bus, he had even volunteered to escort her to the high school for her Theater Arts class. Come to think of it, it _was_ strange since before now he used to make fun of her and insulted her at every turn. She only shrugged his change off, figuring that he had finally found the happy place she often told him about when he became angry. 

But the more that she thought about it, the more she began to realize that she was actually enjoying Roger's company. He had recently stopped bothering Nel and for some reason that made her happy. But why? It's not like she felt something for the little Menodix so she couldn't have been jealous. Peppita wanted to think it over some more, before she started thinking crazy things like having a crush on Roger, but she suddenly found herself at the school entrance and quickly thanked Roger for his chivalry. Little did she know that the Menodix continued to follow her into the high school like a love sick puppy since he hadn't register her dismissal.

Suddenly, before her hand could touch the wooden door to her classroom, she became the second victim of an actress/prankster collision as Cliff quickly rounded the corner and slammed into her. His excuse this time was that he couldn't see her with her being only half his height. Since Peppita was a lightweight, she fell to the floor easily and even slid across the tiled ground a few feet while Cliff didn't appear to have even noticed the impact and kept running.

The tiny actress moaned as she got up and felt a dull pain on her arm where she had hit the floor. There was most likely going to be a large bruise on her there, "Hey! Aren't you going to help me up? Or at least apologize?"

"Not now munchkin, the big kids are trying to kill me," was his retort before he disappeared around yet another corner. The girl was helpless as she gaped at the place where Cliff was last seen until Fayt and the others passed by her in hot pursuit of the troublemaker. Before Roger could get to her, Sophia stopped to help her Peppita up.

"Did Cliff knock you down?" she inquired with concern. When Peppita nodded, she began to frown, "Let's go catch him and make him apologize!"

"O-Okay!" she chirped in reply, feeling a little better now that someone had acknowledged her. Roger took off after Cliff before the actresses ran to catch up with the 'destroy Cliff' party.

It was getting close to the end of the line. Cliff was running out of places to run and all the corner turning was only allowing the others to catch up with him. He didn't know how long it was before fourth period, but he wished it would come soon. At this rate, he wouldn't have enough energy left to put up a fight with Mirage during fifth period.

"Cliff!"

He stopped and turned to the voice. There was Mirage, frantically waving for him to come hide in the janitor's closet with her. He did so without argument. Once she closed the door, they waited in tense silence for the sounds of their friends to pass by before they could speak.

"Mirage…thanks…" he started, but she shook her head.

"Save it for later, we need to find a way to get everyone to forgive you," she reasoned as she opened the door a crack to glance outside.

"I just need to say sorry to Sophia and Peppita," he said as he walked over to her, "As for the other three, it's about the camera. …I'm going to give you the camera and I want you to copy our stuff onto a CD and then delete everything. After that give it back to Fayt. That should satisfy him. …As for Albel and Nel, they should be less angry when we tell them that the footage was 'deleted'."

"Roger," Mirage nodded her head in agreement to his plan.

"What?"

There was a moment of silence before the pranksters slowly glanced down. Sure enough there was a small creature named Roger in between them.

"What are you doing here? This is the high school, you belong in the kiddy school," Cliff said as they broke apart. Roger looked confused like he didn't know why he was there until he remembered…

"Oh yeah! Why'd ya knock down Peppita? I'm gonna give ya such a thrashing for hurtin' her!" The Menodix started swinging his fists at the large teen, but Cliff had lifted him up by his tail. Even at the new height, Roger's arms couldn't reach his face.

"You're kiddin' right?" he asked dryly as the raccoon like creature continued thrashing about. Mirage even had her eyebrow raised at the thought of Roger trying to beat up Cliff. The Menodix wasn't even tall enough to bite him in the kneecaps!

Cliff let out a sigh before checking to see if his other friends were out there. Once he was satisfied that it was all clear, he walked out of the janitor's closet and to the nearest window. He then opened the window with his free hand and tossed the critter out, "And don't come back until you're old enough to be here!"

"I'll probably still see you here when I _am_ old enough!" Roger retorted as he fell.

"Cliff! We're on the third floor!" Mirage called out in worry once she found out what he did to Roger.

"Ah, don't worry, he'll land on his feet like they always do!" he reassured.

"You're thinking of cats. Roger's a rat."

"…Actually I thought he was a squirrel…"

Mirage quickly ran up to the window and breathed a sigh of relief when she found that Roger's belt caught on a tree branch. He was now dangling ten feet above ground and was pretty much safe until someone bothered to notice and rescue him.

"He's going to be angry at you too you know," she warned with a sideways glance.

"Yeah, but he's always upset with me, so it's really nothing new. Plus he can't do anything to me anyway."

"True."

Both pranksters breathed a sigh of relief when the repaired bell rang, signaling the start of the next period. Cliff was safe…for now. He would have to avoid the cafeteria when lunch came around and he would be lucky if Nel and Albel returned to the private gym for fifth period. Unless he made someone else mad (of course Luther didn't count in this), it should be smooth sailing by seventh period when Mirage could save the data. Cliff let out a grin as he handed the camcorder over to his girlfriend.

"Be careful with this, I don't want you to be caught up in this chase too," he warned before planting a quick kiss to her lips.

"You should worry more about yourself," she smirked as she began walking away, "I'll see you around…and I hope I won't be seeing you running for your life again."

* * *

"…I assure you that this is a genuine Dasvanu model. Still in mint condition," Maria explained as she held the box closer for Biwig's inspection. The strange teen gave off the appearance of someone looking unsure despite the fact that every inch of his face was covered in an even more bizarre white mask. Either way, business was business and she was never one to refuse money from …eccentric people like Biwig. Plus, she had finally found a way to get rid of the useless toy model her adoptive father had given her from his last business trip. 

"Hmm… it has been awhile since I've last seen anything from the Star Ocean: Vendeen collection. …What is your price?"

"Well…I'd say it would be fair to start at 3000 Fol since it _is_ a rare model." She was suddenly glad she had the foresight to conduct some research on the model so she could come up with the correct price.

"Hey Maria, what are you up to?"

The blue haired girl almost cringed when she heard the voice. …No it was not Leiber, that part had been resolved. It wasn't Luther either, since he probably wouldn't say something as casual as 'Hey Maria'. She didn't want to turn her head to acknowledge him. Perhaps if she ignored him he would go away. What was he doing out of class anyway?

Cliff figured that he could avoid everyone by not going to class, but he didn't think that Maria could easily join in to chase him down. His thought process was 'avoid friends' not 'avoid sisters' so he completely forgot about how easy it was to get her furious with him. The blonde lowered his head to get a better look at the object inside the box.

"Hey isn't that my action figure?" he inquired innocently.

"No, father gave you the Diplo, and you destroyed it during one of your 'hunches'! Now get to class," Maria hissed as she wrenched the box away from him. Biwig suddenly seemed appalled.

"…You two are related?"

"Fortunately no, I am adopted," she replied proudly as her brother rolled his eyes. Biwig made another strange emotion that anyone could sense. What was with this guy anyway? He had a strange name, always wore a mask, and yet anyone could tell what he was feeling even though his face was covered. Perhaps he came from a family of hippies or something…that could explain the name at least. The emotion that Biwig was emitting was displeasure.

"While I'm impressed that you managed to keep a model of the Dasvanu in mint condition with someone like him living with you, I would not waste my time trying to purchase it since your 'brother' recently swindled me. I don't want to take the chance that you are like him."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I remember you!" Cliff added as the memory of the white mask came back to him. If Cliff had good intentions when he had said that, they were not helping Maria in the least. All she could do was watch as Biwig left them before she faced her brother with a glare. It was then that Cliff realized that talking to his baby sister was not such a good idea after all…

"YOU BETTER RUN YOU BUM!" Maria yelled at the top of her lungs, not caring that teachers were coming out to see what the commotion was about. It didn't matter if it was Cliff, Luther, Sophia, _or_ Fayt, _no one_ was going to get away with making her lose business!

He wasn't sure if Maria was going to chase him down like the others or wait till he got home. That's the worst thing about annoying your sisters- they know where you live. Well on the bright side, that was everyone. There was no one left to anger so things should be okay. Cliff may have done a lot of regrettable/stupid things, but there was no way on Elicoor that he could manage to infuriate his mild mannered girlfriend. It was just impossible…right?

"So how did you do it Cliff? You managed to piss off every single friend you have _and_ your girlfriend," Steeg wondered as he watched the breathless Cliff lean over to rest. It was now eighth period and school was going to be let out soon. It wasn't like Steeg, Leiber, and Marietta weren't his friends, but they weren't considered close enough. Because of that, Cliff had no way to directly insult them in any way.

"…Well it's a long story that's actually really short and it happened long ago in last period," he began as he glanced around for a sign of his friends. He now had Steeg's undivided attention.

(Flashback)

"Hey Mirage, how's the copying coming along?" Cliff asked casually as he entered the AV room. Without thinking about the unusual silence that was present in the room, he crossed the room and headed directly for the terminal where Mirage was sitting. When he glanced over her shoulder, he saw that she was watching a video of a nude woman in a steaming hot shower. It was a video that Cliff shot himself, but don't go thinking that he was cheating on his girlfriend for the star of the short film was none other than Mirage herself.

"Er…" he blanched. He didn't want her to see that…

"Judging by the look on your face, I assume you were the 'director' of this?" she inquired in a soft voice as she faced him with a hard look. The male prankster gulped and then let out a grin.

"Hey, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before." He mentally scolded himself. That was not the wisest thing to say since he just remembered that Mirage had threatened him about mentioning his midnight excursions.

"…It's not that I'm upset that you made this, it's just that you recorded this on _Fayt's_ camera and haven't deleted it. What if Fayt saw this?"

"I would have beaten his face in," he replied instantly.

"But why? It's _his_ camera. My point is that you shouldn't go around making dirty recordings of me, if you want some then just ask, and my second point is go buy your own camera so that we won't have to risk the country's biggest pervert in seeing me without clothes on!"

"…So I take it that you are upset with me?" he asked sheepishly as she turned back to the terminal.

"Cliff, just run and run fast."

He didn't need to be told twice.

(End Flashback)

"Oh, well considering Mirage, she won't be mad for too long," the silver haired teen reassured with a smile.

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that her punches hurt!"

"Oh yeah… At least you managed to accomplish Sophia's task today so it wasn't a total waste."

"You knew about that?" the blonde teen wondered as he glanced up at his companion.

"I overheard you telling Mirage this morning," Steeg admitted with a shrug, "Man…what a way to scar someone for life. I mean that was harsh!"

"I can't take all the credit, Mirage _did_ put the 'Moon me' sign on Fayt's back. All I did was have him chase me until I passed Coach Adray."

The blue haired boy nearly fainted when the coach called out to him, turned around, and then lowered his drawstring pants. It was truly a sight one barely remembered since Adray's backside had been known to cause amnesia or temporary blindness. In Clair's case it was usually amnesia and it was common to find her dazed and confused every now and then. They both glanced up at the ceiling when the final bell rang and students began pouring out of class.

Cliff's eyes shifted around back and forth before he faced Steeg, "I better get out of here before they find me…Hopefully Mirage won't figure out where I'm escaping."

"Try the exit near Duke Vox's room, I'm sure Mirage doesn't know about that one," Steeg added helpfully.

"Hey that might work, thanks pal!"

"Anytime." Suddenly Leiber appeared through the crowd of students and ran towards his brother with a wide grin on his face.

"Steeg! Steeg! Fayt's coming this way!" he shouted gleefully. Both he and Steeg had been dying to moon Fayt all day. Cliff started backing away in a casual like manner.

"Uh, thanks for the heads up. I'm outta here!" the prankster announced before turning on his heel and running off.

Long after he left Fayt came by and covered his eyes in both confusion and embarrassment as Steeg and Leiber pulled down their pants slightly to show off their bottoms to him. The poor boy couldn't figure out why everyone was doing it to him. The worse one yet was seeing Adray mooning him. It made him forget who he was for about an hour! Even Lasselle looked like he wanted to moon him, but thankfully refrained from doing so. After all, mooning …and _flipping the birdie_ could put someone's eye out. Lasselle must have thought mooning put eyes out because Adray must have mooned him once.

What was it that was causing everyone to moon him? Did he have a sign that said 'Moon me' on him or something? He paused in realization and then reached behind his back. Sure enough there was a sign on his back that was written in neat letters. Only one person made signs like this…

"……MIRAGE!"

Since Fayt was approaching from the area of Duke Vox's classroom, Cliff had to take the long way to get there so he could avoid him. Thank Apris Steeg was around to give him the tip. It was probably because that the Morning Report was recorded in the classroom that he knew about it. Cliff was so relieved that he thought he was going to escape unscathed that he didn't try to find what was wrong with the plan. Had anyone in his shoes and in their right mind thought about it, they would have found something fishy about the advice. Like for instance, there wasn't an exit near the duke's room…

The minute he opened the door, he quickly found that it was the master supply closet and that everyone, except Peppita, Roger, and Mirage was in there waiting for him, "Ugh, I shouldn't have trusted that-"

"Don't blame Steeg, I paid him to lead you here," Maria replied with an evil smirk gracing her features."

"Very clever," the prankster admitted before returning a mischievous gaze, "but not clever enough! You may all be here to ambush me, but you are all in there while I'm next to the exit."

But just as he was about to turn to leave, someone very close to him blocked the way. He had forgotten that Mirage wasn't with the group behind them and shouldn't have been surprised that she would be the one to block his way to freedom.

"M-Mirage!" He took a few steps back. There really was no way out now, that is unless he could get his queen of pranks back on his side, "Come on Mirage you know I'm sorry about what happened. I mean, my brain doesn't work all the time so I just forgot about the footage on the camera. You know how forgetful I am, you tease me about it all the time!"

"Oh I know Cliff," she said in a gentle tone that was devoid of any anger. This made him a bit confused.

"Then why are you…?"

"One, because it will be fun beating you up. Two," she leaned in closer and whispered so the others wouldn't hear, "…is because as long as Nel thinks I'm on her side, she will still give me the whip." Her voice then returned to regular volume, "And three, you always look so cute when you're half beaten."

"Wait so you're not mad at me?" he asked with a hopeful face. She shook her head no before his face glowered, "…But you're still going to beat me up…"

This time she shrugged, "Sorry Cliff, I hope you'll forgive me."

"No, I hope you'll forgive _me_," he replied as he brought up his fist. For a moment it looked like he was going to punch Mirage in the stomach, but instead he fisted the top of her t-shirt and brought her face up to his so he could deeply kiss her. It easily caught her off guard and once she relaxed in his grip he broke away and flipped her over his shoulder and towards their friends. She quickly recovered with the grace of a cat as she turned in mid-air and landed on her hands and feet. Now that she was out of the way, there was nothing to stop Cliff from running away.

He ran as fast as he could to the school entrance, ignoring the hall monitors and teachers that told him to slow down. His friends were hot on his trail. Once he burst though the front doors he was promptly blocked off by Roger and Peppita.

"Apologize!" the little actress demanded with her arms outstretched.

"Yeah! Where do you get off pushing pretty ladies down and throwing innocent kids like me out a third story window?" Roger added with a scowl. Peppita glanced at the Menodix in shock over the last thing he had said.

"He did what?" she shouted. When she turned back to face Cliff, she found that he had already jumped over the stone railing lining the steps and had run off.

There were many places to hide in Aquios, he just needed to shake his friends off and go find one. He led them around the fountain, past their usual hang out on the weekends (which they hadn't gone to since Albel arrived), and past the palace gates. When he dared to look back, he noticed that Nel and Albel were missing and then realized that he was heading towards the area where they lived. Cliff quickly changed direction in case they had a trap planned for him.

He ended up in the back alleys of apartment complexes. They were built like a maze, ensuring the prankster that he would soon lose his pursuers…that is if he didn't get himself lost in the labyrinth. Eventually, he came to a three way fork and decided to go left. Nel quickly jumped down from her hiding place to stop him. So that's where she had gone…

Cliff made an about face and tried to go down the opposite path to the right only to find Albel glaring down at him. This left him with no choice but to go down the last path. It turned out to be a dead end. Now he was _really _trapped.

"We got you now!" Fayt said as everyone stormed into the cramped space. Cliff sighed with relief when he noticed Nel was not reaching for her daggers, but then tensed up again when Albel demanded that she let him borrow one.

"We don't need them anymore," she hissed in response, "All he needs is a swift punch in the face."

"But I want to torture the maggot," he almost pouted.

"Don't even bother, he's used to torture," Maria replied as she glanced at them.

"Yeah, we have to find something different to punish him," Mirage added as an afterthought. Suddenly Sophia had an idea.

"I know! Let's give him a make over!"

"Yeah! He can try out my new body spray!" Peppita shouted in agreement. The other girls seemed to agree as well while Fayt glanced reluctantly at Cliff. It was one thing to beat a guy up, at least he'd still have some dignity, but dressing him up like a girl? That's just cruel. Albel, however, still wanted to torture somebody after the day he'd been through.

"Apris no! Not a make over! I don't want to wear the crotchless panties again!" the male troublemaker screamed as he plastered himself against the wall.

"I've never made you wear those," Maria said while shaking her head in confusion. Apparently this wasn't the first time she dressed him up as a girl.

"I did," Mirage chimed with a smile, "I thought it was funny."

Nel, Sophia, and Peppita covered their eyes to rid themselves of the image of Cliff in said underwear. That was too disturbing for their minds.

"We can still talk this over right?" Cliff said, still a little panicked from the threat, "You know I'm sorry for pushing you over Peppita, I didn't see you! And Sophia, I didn't mean the 'Circus Freak' bit, and I'll pay you back for that thing I smashed. And Fayt, I had Mirage deleted all our stuff off your camera, so it's okay right? That stuff I recorded is gone now, you forgive me, right Nel?"

"Hey what about me? You threw me out a third story window!" Roger cried angrily. Cliff only narrowed his eyes.

"I'll only apologize for that after Nel apologizes for throwing you off of the school roof…"

"Absolutely not! He deserved it!" the red head shouted indignantly. The mentioned incident had happened a few months before when Roger had not only groped Nel, but had gotten a picture of under her skirt as well.

"Fine, Cliff we know you're sorry, but you're always sorry," Maria began as she and the others began closing in on him, "…And it doesn't stop you from doing it again. That's why we'll have to punish you."

"NO PLEASE HAVE MERCY SHE-DEVIL SISTER!"

Suddenly there was a growl followed by a series of barks. If it were possible, Cliff's eyes could have widened to the size of Sophia's. Of all things that had to happen, why did Prissy have to be on the loose again? The attack poodle easily ran past everyone and up to Cliff, but instead of baring her teeth at the muscled teen, she turned and faced the others.

"Prissy…is helping me?" he inquired in disbelief.

"That's strange, she never liked you before," Mirage said as most of the others backed away.

"What? It's just a fluffy rat," Albel muttered, disgusted with the way everyone feared the small dog.

"You haven't heard?" Fayt started timidly while keeping an eye on the poodle, "Prissy is rumored to come from the litter of Ipiria's demon dog."

"Feh, this fluff ball is about as evil as Nel's stuffed bunny toy," he scoffed.

"Albel! You promised you wouldn't mention BloodyClaws to the others!" Nel cried with a blush. BloodyClaws was her favorite toy and had carried it everywhere when she was a little girl. Despite its name, it was only a regular stuffed bunnyman and she had named it after a heavy metal band so that Albel would stop making fun of her. True, the name didn't work, but she tried.

He appeared to have ignored her as he decided to prove that he wasn't afraid of Prissy in the slightest by saying, "Besides Ipiria is only the daughter of some low level god so anything that belongs to her probably is a pampered plaything. …Though I suppose something like that would scare pitiful fools like you."

Nel had to hold back a snort. If only Albel knew that he was insulting his mother, "Are you sure about what you're saying?"

His crimson eyes traveled over to her, "Not you too cerise! What's so evil about a dressed up, rhinestone wearing…"

"Uh…your mom…" Nel reminded when he trailed off. While not too gaudy about it, Karen _does_ dress up and wear rhinestone jewelry.

"…Oh yeah," he muttered as he remembered, but he still wasn't afraid of the poodle. By the time Albel was done mocking Prissy, the attack poodle was tired of simply growling and decided to do what she came to do.

"Wha-! Hey!" Roger yelled when Prissy pounced on him. What everyone didn't know was that Roger had stopped by Mirage's house and stolen Prissy's dog treats before going to Peppita's house. He had been going to give them to Lucien as a prank but had forgotten about them.

The only people who wanted to help the Menodix were Sophia and Peppita, but they were no match for the attack poodle. It seemed that Roger was going to be eaten alive if Cliff hadn't pick up the dog and fished the treats out of Roger's pocket for Prissy.

"Cliff! You saved Roger! You're a hero!" Peppita cried as she hugged the Menodix. Sophia noticed how happy the younger girl was and couldn't hold back her smile. She was glad that Peppita didn't need any help in realizing her feelings for Roger.

"You're really happy that Roger is safe," the brunette commented, earning a blush from Peppita. She then quickly released Roger and stood up.

"Uh, look at the time, Ursus must be wondering where I am!"

"Peppita, wait for me!" Roger shouted as he ran after the fleeing actress. Fayt and Maria glanced at each other as they wondered what had happened. Weren't they about to punish Cliff?

"I suppose we could let him go just this once…" Maria reluctantly agreed, "He _did_ save someone…even if it was just a rat."

"I guess, but I was hoping that Cliff would learn something from this…," Fayt grumbled before Maria sighed.

"Or get hurt at least."

"Oh great, it's time for my sparring match with daddy," Nel said as she checked her watch, "Come on Albel, we might as well let it go…"

"Hmph… the maggot isn't worth my time anyway," he muttered as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed Nel.

"I'm glad you finally got over your fear of Prissy," Mirage smiled as Cliff leaned down to pet the poodle.

"Yeah, I guess so. Heh, this little thing isn't so bad after all." Suddenly the small dog turned her head and sank her teeth into his hand. Cliff's jaw clenched and his eyes watered, but he didn't let out a yell.

"I feel better now," Fayt replied with a grin.

"Me too…" Maria added. Mirage was able to get Prissy to let go and immediately tended to the wound while Sophia came up with another idea.

"Hey, we haven't been by the café for a long time. Let's go there and hang out," she suggested. Maria was already bored with watching Cliff and Mirage and readily agreed as Fayt nodded and started walking out of the alley.

What a way to start the week.

* * *

Well on the bright side, I at least made up for the two month wait with a two-in-one update. It may be another long period of wait for the next though, but don't worry, this time it will be because I'm working on a new Alnel project. I can't reveal much about it yet, but I promise it's going to be big! Or at least I hope it will. Once I get the project done I'll immediately get back to writing the next chapter. 


	16. The Heart Racing Decision

I'm so sorry for the long wait everyone! I had a major case of too much homework, but fortunately, I found a way to turn this fic into schoolwork. I'm taking a storytelling class and it wants one finished work by the end of the semester and if I finish this and change all the names and appearances, then I can turn this fic in as an original novel (since the majority of this fic is my plot and scenes).

Also, before I let you go read, I'd like to thank Yvonne Kruschinski for her correction on the German sentence that Mirage said back in chapter 11. This proves that online translators suck. Thank you so much Yvonne!

As usual I do not own SO3 or any of its characters, SquareEnix does…

Chapter 16

Around 4:30 after school, Mirage sat on the stone stairway as she waited for Cliff to get out of detention. She _told_ him that the secretary didn't like fettuccini…all over her desk. But he still did it anyway. Honestly that man had some thinking issues, and yet he was her man and she wouldn't trade him for anything. It was Thursday and the weather was slightly chilly, but she didn't want to wait inside where the janitors would be trying to get her to do their work. …Lazy bums. Maria and the others had left only minutes ago after they finished band practice. Maria was miffed that Cliff wasn't there to practice his violin and Mirage was sure that she was going to tell their mother that he got in trouble once again.

Mirage had no clue why Maria even bothered to hold practice today since everyone wanted to get home before the predicted ice storm hit. Even Nel didn't show up because she had to run to Albel's house so they could practice more for the I.S.F.T. ...or so they claimed. It could be certain that the two were practicing, but it was uncertain where they were really doing it because they couldn't risk their fathers seeing them.

"Mirage!" Cliff shouted as he pushed both glass doors open to get outside. He appeared to be extremely happy and excited, but it wasn't because he was released from detention, nor it seemed it was because he was returning to her.

"Cliff? Why are you so happy? Especially after we found that Luther sent a teacher to investigate one of our stink bomb storages?"

"Oh Mirage, it was amazing! Coach was telling his usual story about the time when he won the title 'Thunder Fart' when…"

"He did?" the blonde girl pouted, "I wanted to hear that! I knew I should have tried to get in trouble today…"

He raised an eyebrow, "But you heard the story five times already."

"I know, but it's still not old yet. The part where he ate the jalapeno chili was inspiring," she replied in an awed voice. Cliff shook his head to clear the image of the story out of his mind before he forgot what he saw.

"Anyway, that wasn't what was amazing. While ol' Thunder Fart was talking, I looked out the window and saw Principal L's car…or more precisely, something on his car."

Mirage blinked, "You mean that message in shoe polish we left saying 'Save the birds! Don't flip the birdie!'?"

"No not that, it's something else that's near the license plate…" he paused as he became frustrated in finding the appropriate words to describe the wonderful thing he saw, "…On second thought, follow me, I'll show ya."

He then grabbed her hand and pulled her with him to the teachers' parking lot. The sun was getting closer to the horizon and the sky grew darker as more clouds gathered. The winds had more of a chill to them, but the teens ignored the icy shock. Cliff sat down in front of the back license plate on Lasselle's car and motioned for Mirage to do the same.

"There," he said proudly as he pointed at the 'amazing' thing.

"That?" she queried with uncertainty.

"That," he confirmed.

"But how is…?"

"Look here," he continued as he pointed in certain areas, "all we need is something to scratch off parts of these letters. Scrape off the top part of the second 'D' to make a 'U' and scrape the 'G' until it looks like 'C'. Then we break it here and insert 'H' with the shoe polish, but we have to make sure the letters look similar."

Her eyes widened as she realized what he was describing, "Cliff? Did you come up with this on your own?"

"Yeah! Great, ain't it?"

"…But you said you couldn't do anagrams, that's why you flunked freshman English."

"That was an anagram?" Cliff asked incredulously, "Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be."

"Do you know what this means?"

"That I may be a genius after all?"

"No, we need to get to work immediately! Where's that nail file?" she wondered as she searched her bag for the item. Cliff chuckled as he leaned closer to his girl.

"I love the way your mind works."

"…Thank you, but this was your idea. Remember?"

"…Oh yeah, I forgot…"

In less than 15 minutes, the troublemaking duo turned Principal Lasselle's prized DODGE into his prized DOUCHE.

* * *

As the frozen rain began falling all around Peterny, Sophia was snug and warm in her room as she did her homework. Since their houses were close together, Fayt's bedroom window was no more than 3 feet away from hers. Over the years, Fayt constructed walls around the two windows and made it look like a box was connecting the houses from the outside. Because of this addition, they could leave their windows open without bringing in the elements of the outdoors. Of course there were times that Sophia felt the need to shut her window at times for privacy, but for the most part it was open.

Music from Fayt's current game was floating through the opening, giving her some ambience that was better than silence. Occasionally Fayt would make comments or shout at his game when something didn't go right, causing her to remind him to finish his own homework and play games later. Her reminders were ignored and Fayt continued on to virtual victory in his many battles. Eventually the rain turned into sleet and it was easily heard on the wood surrounding the windows. It was enough to dull the sound of video game music, but not enough to drown Fayt's one-sided argument.

"Sophiiiiaaaaaa!" the blue haired boy called over his shoulder, not once looking away from the dazzling lights of his T.V.

"What?" she shouted back as she laid down her pencil. She had just finished her homework, he was lucky this time.

"I'm hungry…"

"Then go make yourself something. You can pause that game for a few seconds can't you?"

"B-but… I'm at the Omega System! I can't just quit now!"

"I didn't say 'quit' I said pause!" Sophia was getting angry with his childishness, "I can't help that your hungry, but you can fix it yourself."

"No! Make me dinner!" he protested, sounding a lot like a toddler.

"Uh Fayt, you are a big boy. You must learn to go to a save point, turn off the machine, AND MAKE YOUR OWN DINNER!"

"I can't! The suspense is killing me! I must find out what the Patriarch is up to!"

"Fayt!" she yelled, not believing that he was willing to starve because of a game. There was no way she was going to help him out this time because if he didn't learn, then he would quickly find there was no one to help him when he went off to college.

"Please Sophie?"

She let out a sigh that was of mix annoyance and disgust in herself in breaking, "Fine… But only on one condition: the next save point you get to, you must save and then turn off the game."

"But-"

"No buts! You have to turn it off anyway to eat."

"I can play with my toes…", he mumbled in a disagreeing way.

She grimaced for a moment before walking up to her window, "Please Fayt, just take a 30 minute break for dinner at least and then you can go back to playing. I promise you that 'Patriarch' can't do anything until you come back to help him-"

"He's the bad guy," he instantly corrected her on habit.

"Okay, then until you come back to kick his butt," she amended. He seemed torn to make a decision as his gaze shifted from the T.V. to Sophia, then back to the screen.

"If I do, will you promise not to try to stop me for the rest of the night?"

"Sure, might as well. It doesn't look like we'll be having school tomorrow with this sleet anyway," she muttered back.

"Okay then…I'll…try," he promised as his attention slowly began returning to the game as he realized that he reached another part of the storyline.

"When I come back up here with your dinner, that system better be off! Or you better be at least saving the game," she threatened as she headed out the door and moved downstairs to reach the kitchen.

She didn't feel the need to make something elaborate and pulled out the left over chicken from the refrigerator. A chicken sandwich should be enough for him she decided as she pulled out the bread, vegetables, and condiments. Knowing that he was going to have an appetite, she made the sandwich a triple decker. She also made it that big so that Fayt couldn't possibly be able to play while eating. Once she was done cleaning up the area, she searched around for something to drink when the phone suddenly rang.

Sophia hesitantly went over to the phone as she wondered who would be calling at this time. She briefly wished that her parents had gotten caller ID as she picked up the receiver, "…Hello?"

"_Good evening Sophie,"_ a young man's voice said at the other end. She almost dropped the phone in complete shock of the fact that _he_ was calling and that _he_ knew her number.

"Luther?"

"_Yes, it's me. Did you really think that it was over when that oaf crushed the recorder?"_

"I…uh…" she trailed off before she bit her bottom lip. He couldn't possibly have copies of that recording, so what did he want with her now?

"_I have another task for you…,"_ he started as she steeled her nerves for her reply.

"No, I won't do anything you ask of me and you can't make me," she said sternly, "And don't bother threatening to expose Fayt because I warned Clair about you."

A light chuckle was heard, "_Is that so? Well you certainly are prepared this time. You are alone at home aren't you?"_

"No, Fayt is here with me. Why do you want to know?" she replied guardedly with some concern.

"_No need to lie Sophie, Fayt is next door lost in his games. I know you are in there alone."_

His words scared her. How in the world did he know all of this? He was most likely trying to scare her and make her feel like she was in a horror movie. Sometimes that could be an effective way to convince someone to accomplish a task. There wasn't even any way that he would know where she lived, so she knew she had to be safe. Plus, Luther was no longer a threat to her because she had a trump card over him now.

"Well that's nice, but this information is none of your business. Also, stop calling me 'Sophie'. That name is reserved for family only," Sophia demanded in an irritated tone.

"_I will call you as I please,"_ was his curt response. That only ended up infuriating her. How dare he be so brazen with her! He knew very well what threat she had over him…but then…

Sophia knew that he had a hard life and this was the way he was now. Perhaps letting him call her that would allow her to get closer to him so that she could better understand him and perhaps convince him that life wasn't about 'power'.

"Fine then," she answered in a calmer voice, "go ahead and call me that, but in return I'm calling you Lou."

"_What?"_ he snapped. She was pleased to hear that he was shocked. 'Lou' was the nickname that Blair and his late parents called him so it wasn't any surprise that he would react like that, "…_You shall address me as Luther."_

She didn't flinch from the tone, in fact she was smiling.

"I will call you as I please," she replied in a haughty voice, "Now I should let you go so you can spend time with your sister. Good night Lou."

She then promptly hung up on him. Sophia was surprised at her new found power over the lesser of two evils. Had anyone told her a month ago that she would have Luther trapped under her thumb because of a rather easy piece of blackmail, she would have paled and fainted right on the spot. But of course it wasn't really over yet. She knew he wasn't going to accept defeat so easily and fight with her. But at least she was on equal ground with him and he knew it.

Though despite her bravado, the phone call still had her heart pounding, but for some reason she didn't know why. Sure she was scared for a few minutes but that should have passed. Out of nowhere she began reflecting on the sound of his voice and suddenly began to feel a bit warm. …How unusual…

Suddenly she remembered that she was going to take Fayt his dinner and quickly filled a glass with the first bottle of cold soda she could find. She then placed all the items on a tray and was about to go back upstairs when the phone rang once again. Perhaps Luther wanted a round 2…

"_Sophia, are you okay?"_ a familiar feminine voice called out when she answered the phone.

"Mirage? Of course I'm okay," she replied in a confused tone, "What's wrong? Is that asylum escapee on the loose in Peterny now?"

"_No, worse._ _There have been reports of Luther hanging around the neighborhood. Cliff and I have been watching out for him every night since then. I'm currently at his house now and I might be here all night if the sleet gets worse or turns into snow."_

Cliff's house wasn't that far from hers. He and Maria lived three houses down and across the street from her and Fayt. Sophia briefly wondered if Mirage's mother was going to let her daughter stay the night at Cliff's before she was brought back to reality by Mirage's uncharacteristic gasp.

"What is it?" she inquired worriedly.

"_Lock your doors, I'm serious! And tell Fayt to lock his too!"_ Mirage exclaimed in a hurry, "_I see Luther now and he's heading towards your house!"_

This time Sophia gasped. Luther was walking around in this weather? She didn't even care that he was coming to her house though she figured that there should have been some alarm or worry. It was so odd, she held no fear of Luther anymore.

"Don't worry Mirage I'll handle it. Thanks for the warning," she replied calmly before hanging up on her as well.

"_Sophia what are you-!"_

Not too long after the call, the doorbell went off followed by a knock. When she answered the door, it was no surprise to find Luther with a smirk plastered over his face. He was probably expecting her to be shocked and intimidated by him being here, but he was in for a shock himself when Sophia frowned at him.

"What are you doing out in this weather? Come in before you catch a cold!" she ordered as she tugged on his arm. He reluctantly obeyed and allowed her to help him out of his coat once the door was closed behind him.

"Now have a seat and I'll go make you something warm to drink," she offered in a kind voice, "Is tea fine or would you prefer hot cocoa?"

"…Uh…tea is fine, thank you…" he replied, dumbstruck at the events. He slowly walked over to the only couch in the living room, his shocked eyes not once leaving her form as she traveled back to the kitchen. No one had ever invited him to come inside or make him tea before. Usually they'd scream and occasionally lock their doors if they found him outside. Why was she treating him like a normal person, especially after all the things he had done to her and Fayt? Luther eventually sat down and studied the room as he waited for Sophia to return.

Judging from all the family portraits, she obviously got to spend more time with her parents than Fayt did. He then briefly wondered if the family still had time for each other since her parents weren't here, but then he shook off the thought. Families were for the weak minded anyway… Soon Luther's eyes paused on a particular picture that was on top of a fireplace mantel. It was a picture of a three year old Sophia in front of her parents and instead of a three year old Fayt next to her, there was a four year old Luther in front of his parents and standing next to Blair. He then remembered that he, Sophia, and Fayt's mothers were college sorority sisters and that they would try to bring the families together for outings. The reason why Fayt and his family weren't in that picture was because his parents had a breakthrough in their research and had to cancel. Or rather that was the usual excuse.

No wonder Sophia knew about his past. He figured that it also meant that Fayt knew it too, but he really didn't see him as much of a threat as Fayt was easily bribed with video games. It was almost ironic how he forgot something like that because the three families were close until the accident tore them apart. Come to think of it, they were both also present at the funeral…

Luther didn't notice the cup of tea placed on the coffee table in front of him and almost jumped when he felt a cool hand on his forehead.

"What's wrong? I hope you're not developing a fever," Sophia said in a motherly tone before removing her hand and sitting beside him, "No, no high temperature."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Huh?" she said, baffled by his question. She hadn't realized that her motherly instincts had kicked in when she allowed him in, but she knew that she was doing the right thing despite his previous bullying record. Plus no true evil incarnates would come walking in the ice to come knock on her door. …If that were the case, then Albel should be knocking in a few minutes. "Why shouldn't I? After all, no one should have to risk getting sick from this weather and…you also came to see me so the least I could do is be hospitable."

"Really?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and in an unbelieving tone. The girl was merely being naïve so he decided to not dwell on her sense of thinking. Luther then picked up his tea cup and took in the aroma of the tea herbs, "Well anyway, you are right Sophie my dear. I am here to see you."

This time Sophia raised an eyebrow as he began sipping his tea, "Oh? What is it Lou my dear? Are you here to confess your passionate, undying love for me?"

Suddenly he choked on the bit of fluid he drank and then quickly composed himself. Why did _that_ make him react? She was being sarcastic! Sophia didn't think he was choking because of her joke and realized that he might not liked sugar in his tea.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to ask if you had wanted sweet tea. I'll go make you another one…"

"N-no, it's fine…I …uh forgot that it was hot is all," he replied after clearing his throat.

"O…kay," she said slowly as she gave him an inquisitive look. The tea should have been warm, not hot so she wondered why he made up that excuse, "Be a little more careful, my dear Lou."

He almost glared at her purposeful attempts to mock him, but held them back for the sake of the negotiations. He couldn't stand the fact that she was toying with him, but couldn't do anything about it while he needed her in obtaining Maria. Though, some part of him _was_ impressed with her behavior. If she wasn't so naïve, then she would have made a great rival for him.

"So what did you want to tell me? It better not be about Maria because I already told you I'm not helping you," Sophia announced stubbornly.

"Well it is, I'm afraid. Are you sure you don't want to help? It would be worth your while," he offered with a charming grin.

"Worth my while?" she echoed with an edge to her voice, "How is using my best friend and making her eventually miserable worth my while?"

"It would get you Fayt. Don't you want him for yourself, Sophie?"

"Please don't take this the wrong way, _Lou_, but I'd rather see Maria with Fayt than with you."

"Is that so? What happened to us once being the perfect match?" he inquired with a cool look.

"Because it was _long ago_ you are definitely not her match anymore."

"And what about you?"

"What about me?" she repeated back in curiosity. She was almost worried about the sly look he was giving her and noticed that her breath was short and that her heart was pounding. Just what was going on?

"If you just let Maria have Fayt, then who will you have?" he prodded as he rested his arm on the back of the couch. His hand was awfully close to her ear, causing her to shift away from him.

Luther had just asked one of her many fears. With the way Sophia had been setting up other people and getting them to go on dates, she never took the time to get to know other guys. She would most likely be alone in the future because she couldn't find her own perfect match.

"I'm destined to be alone…" she muttered with downcast eyes, "I'm a matchmaker who's blind to romance for herself."

"That's not true Sophie." She jumped when she felt the back of his hand brush against her cheek, "Matchmaker or not, you are a woman and women need to be loved and cared for by their significant other."

Sophia moved away until she was against the arm of the couch. Her cheek tingled from the sensation of his hand. Luther seemed to have noticed her shying away from him and scooted closer to her until she was trapped between the arm and him.

"E-even so, I've lived all my life without such attentions and I can live without them if I have to…"

Luther was having too much fun with her now. He felt like a predator going after his prey, "Really? You mean to tell me no one has ever done this to you before?"

He brought his hand to trail up her neck and up to cup her cheek. He could feel small tremors coming from her and figured that she finally feared him again. Good. That meant that he was one step closer into persuading her into cooperating. When he brought his face closer to hers, she then realized something quite shocking…

* * *

"Are you sure she just let him in?" Cliff wondered as he paced around his living room. Mirage nodded from her place on the couch as she tightened her grip on the binoculars.

"It wasn't by force?"

"She said that she was going to handle it…" she replied in a disbelieving tone.

"Gah! Why is she being so reckless? She knows better than to put herself in danger like that." He paced one more time around the couch before he came to a horrible revelation, "You don't suppose she is workin' for Luther now?"

The blonde girl raised her head and quirked an eyebrow, "Why would Sophia betray us and work for him? She's as afraid of him as she is of Albel! Don't forget that time in the cafeteria when he threatened her…"

"But…" Cliff stopped before he sat down net to her, "Remember when I got everyone mad at me and they chased me around the school?"

"…Yeah," she responded as she nodded her head once.

He sighed as he ran a hand through his blonde locks, "Well when I ran into Sophia and called her a circus freak, she was in front of Luther's office."

"Are you sure?" she inquired in a shocked tone.

"Yeah, I remember seeing Berial and Belzeber's blank faces behind her as she yelled at me for breaking her …whatever it was."

"But that could just be a coincidence…if only we didn't already know that Sophia always had avoided going down that hall because Luther was there," she replied after a bit of thinking.

Cliff cracked his knuckles, "Exactly! She must be workin' for him or at least trying to get something from him."

"Cliff!" Mirage sat up as it came to her, "The ball! Luther mentioned a secret the Fayt had and I remember Sophia complaining that she didn't know Fayt's secret."

"Sophia not knowing a secret? Can't be true," he disagreed with a slight frown.

"Think about it, Fayt and Sophia knew each other since they were kids so Fayt must know of some way to keep her from knowing about it. …And if Luther happened to know this secret, then…"

"…If Sophia wanted to find out about it, she would have to go to him," he finished for her as he began seeing the same picture, "So then the question is, do we go rescue her or do we trust that she can handle this?"

"…I don't know. On one hand, Sophia could discover a secret and blackmail to save herself, but on the other hand, Luther might not have any secrets and it might be over her head to deal with him."

Maria was listening in on the pranksters outside the door to her room and reflected the situation. Even if it was about Fayt, she knew that Sophia was also dealing with Luther because of her. Maria knew that Sophia would try to convince Luther to find another girl besides her because she was a good friend. She also knew that Sophia could be brave when it was needed, but sometimes she needed someone beside her to help her out.

With a plan in mind, she walked over to the railing that overlooked the living room and glared down at the two teens, "What are you sitting around for? She may be able to handle him for a few minutes, but we both know the longer Luther is in her house, the more danger she is going to get into!"

"You're right Maria, but what to you propose we do about it?" Mirage inquired as Cliff jumped up from his seat.

"Yeah, he's in her house. It's not like we can chase him out or anything."

"I have a plan, come up here and I'll tell it to you," she answered with a grin.

* * *

Sophia couldn't even believe it. She would have to be dumb not to notice because she's seen it on Maria, Nel, and even Mirage. And Peppita was beginning to show it too. …Sophia was getting a crush…on _Luther_. And with him this close, it was getting worse. She quickly pushed him back and stood up.

"Don't even bother with that. I'm not helping you and that's final! Now I'm going to call Blair and ask her to pick you up…"

For some reason Luther felt strange. He wanted her back on the couch with him and felt like he was regretting the actions that had caused her to move. When her words registered in his head, he sighed before saying, "…No, don't, she's still at work. I'll head home by myself."

"Not in this weather!" she protested as her fingers paused on the numbers. He then stood up and took the phone out of her hand and placed it back on the receiver. She felt a blush coming when their hands touched and turned away so that he wouldn't see.

"Don't worry about it, I have a ride a few houses down from here," he said as he walked over to his coat and put it on. It was apparent that both had forgotten the real reason he was here, but it came back to her when she realized that he would go back to getting Maria's attention after he left.

"Wait," she called out as he turned the knob to the door, "If you still wish to go after Maria, then I can give you some advice. Tell her about your past and about your family. Showing her that you trust her to not spill your secrets may be enough to get her to start liking you. If she does end up liking you of her own free will, then I won't interfere."

Perhaps if Maria does end up liking him, then she could help him change back into the nicer Luther he once was. Secretly it was a task Sophia wanted to do herself until Luther became too scary for her to approach, but she lost again. …Luther wanted Maria, not her…

"Why are you helping me now? You just told me that you didn't want to," he wondered as he started at her front door.

The brunette crossed her arms and titled her head, "Why bother explaining it? I'm only a naïve girl to you."

"…Perhaps I'm the one who needs to grow up…" he replied mysteriously before he finally twisted the knob to open the door and left. His words were very shocking, but she didn't have time to think over its meaning as another distraction came her way…

About 5 minutes prior, Cliff was at Sophia's back door with a voice changing bull horn and Mirage was armed with a paint rifle as she entered Fayt's house and crawled into Sophia's bedroom through the window. She said a short greeting to Fayt , but the blue haired boy was still focused on his video game. Maria was at the 'headquarters' in her and Cliff's living room, giving orders to Cliff and Mirage by radio. She was also the lookout to make sure that Luther's goons weren't coming to help out their boss. Once it seemed everyone was at their positions and ready to go, she noticed Luther coming out of Sophia's house with a troubled expression on his face.

If he seemed troubled, then Sophia must have won in negotiations and their concern was wasted. Maria picked up her radio, "Hey Dingus and Wingus, Luther just left, the mission is off."

There was a bit of static as Cliff replied, "_What?"_

Maria checked the connection and realized that her radio needed batteries, making Cliff get a static message and apparently Mirage didn't get the message at all. Luckily she had a supply of batteries ready and had the problem fixed quickly, "I _said_-!"

She paused as she had another thought, why ruin the mission when she could have some fun? "I said 'Start the mission!'"

"_Roger!"_

"_Right."_

Maria quickly put on a coat and a scarf and ran outside to look through one of the windows at Sophia's house.

Cliff started first by banging on the back door before shouting into the bull horn, "This is the Special Runologist Squad. We have you surrounded! Come out with your hands up!"

Mirage quickly headed down the stairs and hid behind a wall as she pointed the rifle towards the living room. Sophia just glanced up at her in confusion before Cliff barged in. Upstairs, Fayt heard Cliff's call and panicked. He actually dropped his game controller, turned off the machine without saving his game, and ran to hide under his bed because he thought the authorities were really there.

The whole plan couldn't have been more perfect for Maria as she watched the scene unfold from her view at the window. The two still hadn't caught on that Luther wasn't there. She noticed that the paint rifle was pointing directly at Cliff's head and quickly pulled out her radio again.

"MIRAGE! SHOOT!"

She did so without hesitation and ended up splattering her boyfriend's face with a hot pink paintball. Sophia tried to hold back her laughter as Cliff and Mirage slowly turned to face the window where Maria was. The blue haired girl was laughing her heart out as she leaned against the window for support

"You know Cliff, you look pretty good in pink," Sophia commented as Mirage came down the stairs.

He wiped some of the paint off with his hand before his expression became serious, "Are you okay Sophia? Where's Luther?""

"He left a few minutes ago."

"Did he harm you or threaten you?" Mirage asked with concern.

"No, he just wanted me to do some task for him and I told him no," the brunette replied calmly. The troublemaking duo stared at each other in disbelief.

"And he accepted your answer?" the female prankster continued.

Technically he only asked her once so he really did take 'no' for an answer this time, "Yeah, he really did!"

"But…how did you get by without getting hurt? He doesn't like getting refused," Cliff wondered in confusion. Sophia placed her hands behind her back and let out a chuckle with a few light squeaks as she smiled at them.

"That's my little secret!" She then gave a slightly dark look, "And I like to see you try to find out what it is!"

"Oh Sophia!" Cliff and Mirage sighed disappointment and concern.

Suddenly Maria opened the door and looked in, "Hey Cliff, mom's home. I'm going to go tell on you, okay?"

"What? Not okay!" he shouted when Maria left, "Maria! Come back here! I don't want toilet cleaning duty again!"

He then ran out to stop his cruel sister, leaving Mirage and Sophia alone in the room. The blonde girl headed to the door to follow Cliff and Maria, but then stopped to face Sophia one last time.

"If Luther does get out of your control and he hurts you, please come to us for help. We care about you and we don't want anything bad happen to you, you know," she said calmly.

Sophia shook her head, "Don't worry about me, I'll be okay. It's Maria you should look out for. He's after her…not me."

Mirage blinked. Was that jealousy in Sophia's voice? She decided that she must have been tired and heard things before she finally left. Once Sophia was left alone in her house and it appeared that she wasn't getting any other strange guests, she went back to the kitchen to retrieve the nearly forgotten sandwich and went back upstairs. She was met with silence as she entered her room and realized that he must have actually turned off his game. She wondered if Fayt was feeling alright because she expected at least somewhat of a fight to get him to get off.

"Fayt, I brought your dinner!" she announced as she crawled through the window passage and came into his room. She was more surprised that he wasn't in his room. She dismissed it as Fayt getting killed in his game and him going off to the bathroom to take care of his needs and maybe wash his face. Sophia placed his dinner on the floor next to his bed since his nightstand and bed were covered with miscellaneous junk and then went back to her room. A hand shot out from under Fayt's bed and pulled the plate and drink in.

It wasn't until later the next day that Sophia discovered that Fayt was stuck under his bed and had to call Cliff to get him out. Luckily Fayt had his handheld game system and found some games he thought he had lost under the bed. He was well entertained until his rescue.

* * *

As predicted, school was closed Friday because of the snow that came over night. Unfortunately, the bus driver decided to have his fun by sliding the bus on the icy roads of the neighborhoods in Peterny, making it to where none of the younger students could go outside to play in the snow. Over in Aquios, more people were out in the streets, preferring to walk rather than drive since the winds had died down. One Albel Nox was currently dressed in a heavy coat and walking through the knee-deep snow as he made his way to the park. He stopped at a magnolia tree and glanced around for any people, or more precisely his father, that might be nearby.

Once it was clear, he leaned against the bark of the tree, "Get down here maggot."

"I told you not to call me that," a feminine voice hissed through the frozen magnolia leaves. Nel jumped down above Albel with the intent of landing on him for revenge, but he sidestepped her at the last minute. She was still able to recover and land on her feet without any injury to herself.

"You weren't followed?" Albel asked as his crimson eyes glanced down at her. A scarf covered the lower half of his face so the only features she could see were his eyes and the top part of his nose.

"No, dad followed me for a minute before he remembered that he forgot to put something warm on. I lost him quickly after that," Nel responded before she noticed him staring at her. She ducked her chin further down her scarf so that her blushing cheeks would be covered, "What?"

He stared at her blankly for a few more minutes, "You're…wearing pants."

She almost fell over in shock. _That_ was something unexpected from him, "How very astute of you. I see that you are wearing pants as well."

"I always wear pants… But I've never seen you wear any before."

"Did you expect me to come out in this freezing snow wearing a miniskirt?" She caught the gleam in his eyes, "Don't answer that, I don't want to know. The last thing I'd ever do is give _you_ another free show…"

"If you say so cerise."

She huffed and crossed her arms before she snapped at him, "What did you want anyway? This had better be good if I had to come out here in this cold weather!"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "I just wanted to get out of the house."

Now Nel was the one staring incredulously. He called her out here for _nothing_? Oh no, her time was not to be wasted today!

"If you _had_ to call me out here, the least you could do is think of something for us to do," she muttered through clenched teeth. When all she got from him was another shrug and more silence she suggested, "Okay then, Baka-kun, why don't we practice some Glyphian dances?"

"Not out here in the snow," he replied.

"I know that! I mean for us to go inside somewhere and practice!" She was quickly losing her patience with him.

"Where do you propose we go? We can't go to your house because you can't detect your father, we can't go to my house because you can't detect my father quickly enough, and I refuse to go to some public place where other maggots can watch us."

It was apparent that he didn't want to train for the I.S.F.T. right now and even if he just wanted to spend time with her, which she really doubted, he was going to make it sound like it was her fault they were out here. Honestly, she wasn't in the mood to mess with him unless it was pertinent to their training. The last thing Nel needed was to get close enough to him to be heartbroken when he decided that he was bored with her.

"If that's all you're going to do, then I'm going back home. I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now."

But before she could leave, Albel's hand grabbed her wrist to prevent her from getting too far.

"Let's… go to my house and spar."

"Why?" she wondered as she held back the even heavier blush that was threatening to appear on her cheeks. If he had said 'train' then it would be about the tournament, but sparring was a different thing entirely.

"While it may not have anything to do with our current training, it might be a good idea to spar against each other until we know exactly what each other's strengths and weaknesses are. That way we can adapt our different movements to the battle strategy."

So in the end, all he wanted was to fight. Nel tried not to sound disappointed as she agreed that he had a good idea. He never really wanted to spend time with her unless it was for something useful… Of course never mind the fact that she previously didn't want to spend such time with him in fear of getting too attached to him.

"Okay, let's go. It's freezing out here." Yet another blush threatened to come as he proceeded to guide her back to his home with his hand still around her wrist. To others it appeared that he was dragging her impatiently, but he wasn't going so fast and she was able to keep up with his strides. She couldn't see any evidence on his face that he was uncomfortable or expressing any other emotion that might suggest that he liked holding her wrist. Then again, it wasn't like he was holding her hand or anything. Nel decided to accept the fact that he didn't hold any special feelings for her other than trust and some respect.

Once the teens got to his house and started fighting, they became too focused to notice that there was an audience watching them. Glou observed their fight from a newly installed opening on the second story of the house. He didn't see anything going on that resembled actual training, it just seemed like they were fighting each other just for fun…or they had some argument and they were settling it. Little did Nel know that when her father stopped following her, he instead went directly to the Nox manor for a visit. Nevelle watched the same fight along side Glou and was able to tell that they were not fighting out of anger for each other.

"Hopefully this means that they are getting along better now…" Glou muttered as he got bored with the lack of action going on down there. If he'd seen one fight, he'd seen them all. It was only going to be interesting if they were making out and fighting for dominance. Nevelle nodded in agreement. Suddenly the men realized that they were not alone. Glou looked to his side and noticed a particularly nasty glare coming from Karen while Nevelle saw a similar look from his wife next to him.

"Karen! Dear…you're back early…" Glou grinned nervously.

"Sonya, you look lovely today!" Nevelle began in an attempt to get out of whatever the women seemed to be mad about.

"What is this we're hearing about you two being in this year's I.S.F.T.?" Karen inquired in a cool tone.

"Were did you hear a silly rumor like that?" Nevelle said, his grin waning. Sonya pulled out the entry forms from her purse that had the dads names on it.

"Oh…that. You see, we were just doing that for Albel and Nel. Ever since they thought we were going to compete, they've been working really hard together. They've been getting along real well and have been learning the value of teamwork," Glou quickly explained.

Sonya glanced down at them, "Well it _is_ true that they have been more civil to each other, but that doesn't give you any right to trick them like that. You both know how bad they want to prove themselves to you."

"Also," Karen cut in with the look of displeasure, "that rumor has gotten out and now we have news reporters outside trying to figure out how you two got in the tournament. Clean this mess up."

"Yes ma'am," the two knights echoed.

"And you better tell the kids the truth and apologize!" Sonya demanded.

"Yes ma'am…" they repeated. Suddenly Albel made a wrong move in tripping Nel by accident, but instead of apologizing for it, he insulted her for her lack of balance.

"Ugh, Nox! I knew I shouldn't have bothered to come here!" Nel shouted before storming out of the training area. Albel cursed under his breath and then threw down his katana before leaving from another exit. The women turned their glares back toward the men.

"Uh, let's tell them later when they get a better grasp of the 'getting along' lesson. Until then, Glou and I should go fix the reporter problem," Nevelle said in a quiet voice as he and Glou slowly edged over to the exit.

"Tell them the truth soon or you with both regret it," Karen sneered before walking past them with Sonya right behind her.

* * *

"Good morning Aquios High! This is your host Welch Vineyard…"

"…And Steeg Lakishmanacaoilfhionnvolodymyrodov!"

Welch's eyes widened at his newest last name, "Riiiiiiiiiiight…"

"Today we have a special report on vandalism on a red douche- I mean dodge driven by none other than our only douche driver, Principal Lasselle."

"Didn't you mean 'dodge driver'?"

"…Sorry my tongue slipped," Steeg grinned.

"Tongue? I think you mean your brain slipped… Anyway we have Marietta right now outside with the principal's car-"

"The douche car-I mean the DODGE car," the silver haired anchor interjected, earning an eye roll from his co-host.

"…_ready to give her report!_" Welch managed to finish through clenched teeth. She then calmed down and let out a smile, "Marietta?"

The camera cut off for a few seconds before a new camera signal took over the screen. Marietta was kneeling next to a license plate near the back of a car that was assumed to be the principal's.

"Thank you, Welch," the young news reporter said before turning her attention to the car, "As you can see here some of the letters have been scrapped off and there appears to be a letter inserted with what I'm guessing is shoe polish. What seems to be a humorous prank is actually vandalism because the victim is highly offended by the message, not because there was damage to the property. It would take at least 3 Fol to get a replacement license plate, but the memory of the first one will last forever..."

Marietta paused as she tried to look solemn, but ended up trying to hold back her snickers, "It's not certain who this message is insulting: the car, or the driver who uses 'it'. Back to you guys."

The camera cut off again, but not before capturing the sound of Marietta's hysterical laughter. Back in Duke Vox's room, the news anchors were chucking as the camera focused on them again.

"Thank you Marietta for that revealing report on feminine products," Steeg said as he elbowed Welch, "I mean on car vandalism."

"Okay Steeg, we get it," the cinnamon haired girl muttered in annoyance. He wasn't always this lame at jokes so he must have been having an off day.

"Come on Welch, you should understand the importance of feminine hygiene. It might get people to like you better."

"Goodness, I didn't know you knew so much about girl stuff. It must be true that you were one of the successful sex change patients," she retorted.

"Nah, I just understand things better than 'its' like you."

"Anyway, back to the subject, Principal Lasselle has given us permission to read this rather long list of suspects." Welch cleared her throat, "Cliff and Mirage, Stanley, Cliff and Mirage, Luther, Berial, and Belzeber, Cliff and Mirage, Fayt, Cliff and Mirage, Puffy, …Well what do you know? Steeg is on this list too!"

"I am?" the teen wondered in confusion before shrugging it off and continuing the list from his end, "Also, Leiber is on the list, and Cliff and Mirage, …Coach Adray?, Cliff and Mirage, over one third of the student body, and the most suspected suspects: Cliff and Mirage."

"Hmm, I wonder who Lasselle will go after first?" Welch inquired in an innocent voice as Steeg set down the list.

"Not sure, but I have a 'hunch' it could be Cliff and Mirage."

"Perhaps it's a mystery that will never be solved? We just ran out of time folks, but don't forget to tune in next week for the report on Lasselle's 'List of Things that Could Poke Your Eye Out'," Welch said with a small laugh.

Steeg snorted slightly before adding, "And remember folks: Save the birds. Don't flip the birdie!"

They shared a laugh with that one and then quickly calmed down.

"This is Welch Vineyard…"

"...And Steeg Chi…"

"And this was your 'Morning Report'! See ya!"

* * *

It had been 3 weeks since the snow day and it was getting close to December. The days were beginning to get too cold for the group to hang outside so they now met up near their lockers. Ever since the fighting incident Nel refused to talk to Albel. He would still follow her around like nothing ever happened, and he would often goad her into talking to, or at least yelling at, him, but she remained silent. Not even his best insults or back-handed compliments could get her to make a sound. She still did talk to the others and often pretended that Albel wasn't there if he had tried to speak to her while around her friends.

Of course she wouldn't let her problems with him interfere with their I.S.F.T. training and still practiced with him until they had their battle strategy perfected. Luckily fighting didn't require talking and if she had to speak, it would be towards Tynave. Albel never appeared to be bothered by it and had always been silent before so no one else really took notice of it, except maybe Sophia.

It was now Wednesday morning and the girls were at their lockers as they waited for the warning bell. Albel hadn't seemed to have arrived yet so Nel was on her own with the other girls. And for once Mirage was with them as well since Cliff had to help Lieber with some 'guy problem' and had to drag Fayt along with him for some reason. Suddenly Nel let out a shocked gasp from her open locker before she backed up and hit the other wall of lockers behind her. She was shaking out of pure fear and her eyes were wide in terror.

"Oh A-Apris, that is _not_ in my locker! It is _not_ in _my_ locker!"

Maria glanced over at her red haired friend with some concern and then walked over to Nel's locker, "What isn't?"

Soon, after careful inspection of the locker's contents, Maria dropped her purse and everything else in her arms as she backed away and joined Nel in cowering in fear. Sophia and Mirage looked at each other as one of them appeared fearful and the other shrugged in confusion. The blonde prankster figured that Cliff must have made a quick stop at Nel's locker and sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Cliff always leaves rubber snakes in places like this. They're not real…" she trailed off when she saw what was causing the other two to freak out. It was truly a rare sight to see Mirage Koas scream and then run away in sheer terror. What happened so far made Sophia even more afraid to go inspect Nel's locker, but since Nel and Maria were still in shock, she had to at least go know what she feared.

With slow careful steps, she approached the locker and hid behind the door. The brunette took a few deep breaths and then faced the object with her eyes closed. When she slowly cracked one eye open, she relaxed and opened both eyes, "Aww, that's so sweet!"

"Sweet!" Nel called as she broke away from her cowering, "Are you a mad woman?"

"But it's just a rose!" she replied cheerfully as she pulled out the offending object. Sure enough it was a beautiful red rose with a long, thorn-less stem. Attached to it was a note that said 'I'm sorry, please forgive me –Albel'.

"But it's from _Albel the Wicked_!" Nel protested.

Maria looked about ready to pass out and clung to her friend's arm, "Please tell me he's sick, right? If he's ill then this may not be a sign that the world will end, right?"

"I-I don't know," Nel replied as she gripped Maria's shoulders in fear, "But I'm really scared!"

"Me too!"

Sophia sighed and put the rose back. Those two can really overreact. _She_ was the actress around here! Suddenly Albel appeared around the corner and noticed the commotion between Nel and Maria. Sophia just nervously smiled and waved at him before backing away from Nel's locker and hid behind the other girls. He gazed at the rose, then at the terror filled eyes of the women. Nel took a deep breath and then raised a shaky hand to point at the flower.

"Y-you didn't send that did you?"

"Oh, so you're talking to me again, cerise?" he asked with a lighter look. Sophia couldn't help but notice that he even sounded happy.

"Just answer the question!" she snapped angrily.

He let out a disgusted sigh, "Mother forced me to do it. She said that if I didn't apologize to you, then she will make sure I won't get a sword until my 21st birthday…"

"Oh is that it?" she inquired with great relief. Nel let her breath out and placed a hand on her chest before facing Maria, "Albel's mom is pretty frightening when angry so he is okay and the apocalypse isn't happening."

"Oh good…" Maria sighed and then sensed that things between Albel and Nel were not quite over yet. She grabbed Sophia's arm and started dragging her away, "Come on Sophia, let's get to class…"

"But-!"

Once they were gone, Nel glanced up at Albel, wondering if she should accept his forced apology. After all, he hadn't really learned his lesson…

"So are you done being mad at me?" he inquired with no emotion to his voice.

"Why should I? You're not sorry."

"I…am sorry. I miss having you snap back at me for every insult I give and you're the only one who has anything intelligent to say…"

She looked into his eyes and realized that he may have been telling some truth, even though his face appeared that he was forcing the words out like he didn't mean them. He still had to keep up his image and he was still her friend even though he was very rude to the others. Plus, it wasn't his fault that he didn't like her the way she liked him and she shouldn't break their friendship over that. That _was_ the ultimate reason why she was so reserved with him for the past few weeks.

"You didn't really mean that, did you?" she asked with a small smile.

"…Not really," he admitted.

"Good enough for me. I forgive you."

"Bah, as if I need your forgiveness," he muttered in a rather smug tone. Nel shook her head in amusement and then suggested they get to homeroom before it got too late.

When 4th period came around, Maria was running errands for the secretary since she was the office aide for that period. She had to deliver 10 notices to teachers all over the school and was nearly exhausted when she returned to the main hallway. Why did the school have to be so HUGE? Not wanting to return to the office for more work, she leaned against the wall to rest for a bit.

"I can't take this anymore! We must tell everyone about how we feel for each other…"

Maria glanced up. That sounded like Sophia. Who was she talking to? The blue haired girl stood up and followed the sound of her voice. It was coming from the theater art room.

"Uh…Are you sure? It might be too, uh…soon?" came an unsure response. Maria almost froze to the spot. That sounded like Fayt!

"I don't care! I love you more than life itself and I want the whole world to know!" Sophia declared passionately, "Kiss me!"

There was silence as Maria dared to peek through the small opening through the door. Sure enough, there was Fayt with his back to her and Sophia close in front of him. They were ...kissing. Even though his arms weren't around her, the fact that he wasn't pushing her away and the fact that Sophia had the look of bliss on her face was enough proof for Maria. Fayt and Sophia _were_ lovers.

She quickly pulled away and flattened herself against the wall so they wouldn't catch her. Her breathing was heavy and she thought she felt a sharp pain through her chest and placed her hand over it. She had known all along that this would happen, that one day her friends might show that they were together, but she didn't expect it to hurt so much.

Maria quickly ran once she heard them talking again. She didn't want to hear anymore. For the rest of the day, she refused to look Fayt or Sophia in the eye and she wouldn't talk to anyone. Cliff quickly became concerned about her and tried to find out what was wrong, but she would only mutter that she was okay and then walk off with downcast eyes. For the first time in 2 years, Maria actually canceled band practice and walked home by herself instead of waiting for her brother or getting a ride in Mirage's limo.

Later that night, she was lying on her bed with a tear stained face. Both Cliff and their mother were highly worried since she didn't come down for dinner nor did she bother to tattle on Cliff for anything he could of, or probably have, done during the day. They tried knocking on her door and coaxing her to come out, but it only ended with her whispering for them to leave her alone. When her phone rang on her nightstand, she just ignored it until she realized that their mom should have already been asleep and knew that Cliff wouldn't bother to answer it.

After the third ring she picked it up without even looking to see who was calling, "Hello?"

"_Maria, are you okay?"_

She almost frowned when she was able to recognize the voice, "What do you want Luther? This is none of your business..."

"_I just wanted to see of you were alright. Pretty girls like you shouldn't be walking around with such a sad expression. …You're not talking to your friends, are you?" _He sounded as concerned as he could muster, but for some reason she was touched that he called.

"It's nothing. I'm not feeling well. I'll get over it."

"_Is this about Fayt and Sophia?"_ Luther's questioned shocked her. How did he know about it?

"What gives you such a silly idea?" she tried to say with a laugh, but her throat croaked from all the crying she had done today.

"_I can't say for sure, but I saw you running from the theater arts room and I happened to look in to see what was going on."_

"Oh…" she muttered as she climbed out of bed and began pacing around her room. Her eyes fell on the present on her dresser and started walking towards it.

"_Would you like to talk about it? We can meet up tomorrow during 4th period and just talk. We don't even have to talk about them,"_ he offered. He sounded like he cared.

Maria was feeling torn. She didn't know why he would be concerned, but then remembered that he was one of her secret admirers. Maybe he did like her... But then again, he was evil and he hated her brother intensely. This could very well be a trap to get back at Cliff. On the other hand, he never bragged to Cliff about giving gifts to her. He could very well be trying to get her attention. Perhaps she should give him a chance. Maybe he wasn't as 'bad' as he tried to make himself to be.

"Sure, that sounds fine. Where do you want to meet up?" she inquired with a tiny smile.

"_Room 118._ _I will be waiting for you. Please take care until then."_ He did sound rather happy, but then that could mean that he had gotten his way or that he was glad that Maria accepted his invitation. Either way, she figured she would find out tomorrow and said her farewells to him. She put down the cordless phone next to the gift and then stared at the box for a few minutes.

Perhaps if Luther did send this, then maybe she should open it in case he asked her about it. It wouldn't hurt to look now since she knew that Fayt would never be with her. Slowly, she brought her hands up to the now dusty bow and began unwrapping the present.

Downstairs, Cliff was half-asleep on the couch with the T.V. on. He was jolted from his rest when he heard a crash followed by a wail that came from Maria's room. Worried that she might be hurt or was being attacked, he immediately jumped up and ran to her room. He only heard quiet sobs through the door and decided that he would open the door anyway instead of respecting her privacy. He didn't make any noise as he looked in to see if she was okay. Maria was lying face down on her bed, not appearing to be harmed at all.

He glanced down at the floor and noticed what looked like a shattered music box. It appeared to have been made of porcelain or plaster and had a ruined image of some blue haired lady with red eyes. He leaned down slightly to grab the tiny music box mechanism before Maria sat up and threw a pillow at his head.

"Get out of my room you dork!"

Cliff quickly exited with his finding and closed the door. At least she was sounding back to normal.

* * *

The next morning Cliff asked Mirage to wait for him outside of the cafeteria as he approached Sophia. She was sitting at a table with her head buried in her arms as she looked like she was having a hangover. Since the brunette was not known to drink, the prankster assumed that she fell victim to Leiber's singing this morning and was suffering a massive headache.

"Hey Sophia," he said gently so he wouldn't agitate her headache, "Do you know where Fayt is?"

"Ugh, he's with Miss Clair…again," she replied as she looked up, "What do you need?"

"Oh uh… I found this in Maria's room. Do you know what song it plays?" He pulled out the device and played it.

Immediately Sophia cringed and placed her hands on her ears, "Turn it off! It's that song from the Xenosaga game Fayt plays over and over again!"

"So you mean Fayt gave this to her?" he inquired as he stopped the mechanism. If Fayt was the one causing Maria this pain, then he really needed to go talk to him.

"No it must have been someone else," Sophia said as she quickly sat up.

"Are you sure? Fayt is the only one who would have sent something like this since he's the only one who plays those games besides Maria."

"I would know it if Fayt gave her something like that. Are you sure Maria didn't buy it herself?"

Cliff shut his mouth from that response. That could have been possible too. But why would she throw something so delicate and expensive looking? And why hasn't he seen it in her room before yesterday?

"Okay then, maybe Maria is just having some female problems or something. Thanks Sophia," Cliff said as he walked out of the room.

Once he was gone, she rested her head on her arms and stared off into space. Right now she wasn't too worried about Fayt, Maria, or any of the others. She was more worried about Luther. She could tell he was up to something when he gave her that mischievous look when they passed each other in the hallway. Maybe he was going to make his move on Maria today…but.

Pain and guilt started washing over her. What if Maria refused him? And what if Maria couldn't like him? She just sent her friend to the lion's den with the small hope that she could change Luther and make him happy, but then at the same time, she was sending her when she knew that Maria didn't like him. Luther was the last person Maria wanted to love. It wasn't fair and it was getting too confusing for the girl. She couldn't even start to think of the pain she would feel if Maria did end up falling for him and they became the perfect couple.

Sophia sighed and then stood up. If Maria can show Luther happiness then that would be good enough for her. But first, Cliff mentioned that she wasn't in a good mood and she didn't seem to be feeling well yesterday. She decided to go find Maria and see what the problem was.

* * *

"I wonder why Miss Tynave called us over so early," Nel said as she crossed her arms. Albel only shrugged as he glanced around the gym. It wasn't long before their short haired coach came in with a medium sized box. She set down the box and proceeded opening it in front of them.

"I'm glad you two were able to come on such short notice. Your uniforms have arrived and I would like you to wear them today so that you can get used to the feel of them. Your uniforms represent the strength, etiquette, and history of a true swordsman of Aquios High. Wear them with pride and win the tournament on behalf of our school."

"Yes Miss Tynave. We will do so," Nel smiled as she reached for the bag that had her name on it. They were identical uniforms that were in the school colors of red and dark blue. When she opened it, she found that it came in two pieces and had a red scarf with the school emblem embroidered on it.

"I have to wear a skirt?" Albel grumbled as he held up the offending garment.

"Aww is Albel the Chicken afraid to dress up like a real swordsman? At least we'll be wearing leggings under it," the red haired teen teased as she headed to the girls' dressing room.

"What did you call me woman?" he roared in her direction.

"Don't worry Albel, it's perfectly acceptable to wear a sarong. This was the traditional garb of Aquarian swordsmen in the warring days of the far past," Tynave explained with a smile. This wasn't turning out as bad as she had feared. She was excepting a worse reaction from him, but he didn't seem too upset about the new uniform.

Suddenly Nel opened the door to let out one last retort, "If someone makes fun of you, just glare at them like you always do, that'll scare them……into silently laughing at you behind your back."

Albel glared at her as she went back into the dressing room with a chuckle. He then gathered his things and stormed over to the boys' dressing room to go change as well. Over at the girls' dressing room, Nel was admiring her new uniform in the mirror. The top part was dark blue with red trimming and had red fasteners across the chest area. It was also sleeveless with red trim around the shoulder area and the shirt ended slightly under the bellybutton, showing a slender line of skin between the top and bottom.

The sarong was the same color with red trimming lining the edges and it began at the top of the hips and ended just below the knee. Black leggings underneath protected the legs from the cold and perverted eyes and left Nel an amusing image of someone making the mistake of checking out Albel's legs. The scarf was red and rested comfortably under the chin. The school emblem was in the front around her collar bone for all to see. Lace up boots also came with the uniform and they were made of leather and came up to mid-calf.

When she left the dressing room, she almost felt odd to see him coming out wearing the exact same thing. The only difference was that while her uniform was fitted for her feminine curves, his was made for his masculine frame and his muscles were now well exposed for anyone to see. She had to glance away before she started staring. They walked over to Tynave so she could inspect them and received an excellent critique.

"This is wonderful! Your new belts should be coming in soon for your blades and I want to see you with them on when they get here. Also, I have some good news for you, I've been talking with the superintendent and she said that it was okay for you to compete with your own weapons if you don't wish to use the ones the school provides. So if you have any blade preferences, please inform me soon so I won't have to order anything."

"Yes ma'am," they replied with a respectful bow.

"You may go back to your classes now. I will see you again in 5th," Tynave said as she collected the empty box and headed out. They followed her out and headed a different direction in the hall. Once Tynave was out of sight, Albel grabbed Nel by the arm and pinned her to the wall.

"Ow! Hey!" she protested as his body came closer to hers.

"Those insults were not very nice cerise," he purred evilly.

"Oh as if _you_ don't insult me on occasion!" she retorted as she tried to get out of his grip, "Besides, I was just kidding. Get a sense of humor please."

His head was now centimeters away from hers, "I do have a sense of humor…"

"I'll believe it when I see it…" she muttered as she tried to push away the feelings that were building up again.

"Nox! Zelpher! What are you doing out in the hallway? Get to class!" Duke Vox hollered from his position at the end of the hall. Albel smirked down at her as he backed away. His knuckles brushed against her outer thigh as he moved past her. She couldn't tell if the move was intentional or by accident, but she didn't really ponder on it since she decided that she didn't like that smug look on his face.

Nel was planning some sort of verbal revenge, but when she caught up to him, they both saw a rather alarming scene…

It was getting close to the end of 3rd period and Cliff and Mirage were on the search for Maria since she didn't show up for the S.D.F.C.. There was no sign of the blue haired girl anywhere and they were about to get worried until they sensed it.

"Mirage, I got a hunch something bad is going to happen…" Cliff muttered as he glanced around the hallway they were in. Mirage was already tense from the dangerous feelings she was getting. The pranksters almost jumped when they heard Vox yell at some random student, but quickly brushed it off. Pretty soon they came to an intersection in the halls and found a paint bucket positioned over an archway. It was an unfinished prank that needed a string to set off the bucket.

"Such a cheap trick, but I'd hate to see something not finished," Cliff said as he fished his pocket for some string. Mirage grabbed his arm before he could advance towards it.

"Stop! It might be a trap," she warned, "I'm not getting a good feeling about this. This might be a setup to get us in trouble."

"But Mirage!" the muscled teen whined as he gave the paint bucket a fleeting glance. She started pushing him back to get him away from the area in case someone was nearby to catch them.

"Don't you think finding that was a little too convenient? Besides what happened to your hunch?"

"You're right. We better get back to searching for Maria anyway," he reluctantly agreed. Suddenly, Mirage saw something past Cliff's shoulder and pulled away from him.

"Is that a pack of colored sharpies on the floor? Finders keepers!" she said as she headed in that direction. Cliff then noticed something else on the floor away from Mirage.

"What is a perfectly good whoopee cushion doing on the floor with no one to use it properly?"

The troublemakers were now separated as they headed toward their treasures. But before they could touch them, they froze when they heard a sharp click…

When 4th period came around Sophia was able to find Maria near the theater arts room. Maria didn't seem to be upset at all, in fact she was smiling.

"Maria are you okay? You missed class last period," she started with uncertainty.

Maria only smiled at her, "No I'm fine. I was feeling a bit sick yesterday but it's all gone. I'm going to go meet up with someone soon so I had to get ready. I better go before I'm late."

"Oh okay," Sophia answered as she moved out of her friend's way and let her pass. She took a few steps before the wave of guilt overcame her again. She had to at least warn her about what she had said to Luther, "Maria, wait."

"What is it?" the blue haired girl wondered with curiosity as Sophia took a deep breath and let it out.

"I should tell you something, when Luther came to my house a few weeks ago…"

"Oh don't worry about that. I'm going to go talk to him right now."

"Y-you are?"

"Yeah, I've been thinking, if he has been my secret admirer this whole time, then I should at least give him a chance," Maria explained as she slowly started walking backwards.

"In that case…just be careful..."

Maria stopped walking as she noticed the down look on the brunette's face, "Sophia, are _you_ feeling alright?"

"I'm feeling a bit sick to my stomach right now," she admitted with a small cringe. Her guilt and regret was weighing heavy on her.

"You should go to the nurse's office and lie down. …Or just go to Fayt, he should make you feel better," Maria muttered under her breath at the end.

"What?" she inquired. She didn't catch what she was saying, but it didn't sound like a very nice tone.

"Oh nothing, just thinking to myself. I'd better go. I hope you'll feel better Sophia. Bye."

Once Maria was gone from sight, Sophia turned around and let the tears she had been holding back fall, "Please help him, Maria. You may be the only one who can..."

* * *

It turned out that room 118 was entrance to the backstage prop storage for the theater art department. Luther was there before she was and greeted her like a gentleman. Maria had fun talking to him and was able to find out some things about Luther that she never knew. He really wasn't as bad as he let on and her opinion of him changed drastically. But the longer she talked to him, the more she thought about Fayt. Despite how nice Luther was, she couldn't feel the same way about him as she did for Fayt. She knew she was desperately trying to move on and this wasn't really fair to Luther. If he had asked to go out with her, then she'd have to refuse.

"My parents…died when I was seven. They angered some demons in Greeton and then were slaughtered by the monsters the demons sent. Blair and I were going to be separated if she didn't find a job and so she had to drop out of high school to support me. Thankfully she was a brilliant woman and was still able to get jobs slightly higher than working at fast food restaurants, but it still wasn't enough for the both of us. That's why I do this business, just so we can get enough to support ourselves."

"I see…my parents died from a car accident. A truck slid on some ice and hit them. My mom did survive for a while and during that time I tried to raise the money for the hospital bill, but when she found that dad had died, her broken heart was what caused her to follow him," Maria said while trying not to think too hard about it. As long as she just talked about it and not think on it, she wouldn't be reduced to tears from the painful memory.

Luther placed a hand on her shoulder for comfort, "Maria we are so much alike."

"You're right," she agreed with a tiny grin.

"We need to stick together and share our pain. That way we could get through any challenge. What I want to ask is, will you be my girlfriend?"

"I...I'm sorry Luther. We may share similar pasts and you are not the jerk I thought you were, but I'm afraid I don't have any feelings beyond friendship for you. If we can, I'd like to just be friends."

"I regret to inform you, but that is not an option," he said sternly, "You will be mine."

"What?" she nearly shouted, surprised by the change in his attitude, "If that's how you want to play, then forget being friends. I won't be your girlfriend!"

Luther grabbed her arm before she could storm away, "You will!"

"Let me go," Maria ordered in a stern voice, "There is nothing you can do to change my mind."

"Oh there isn't?" he asked with a wicked smirk. Maria managed to pull away from him as he snapped his fingers. The doors opened and in came Berial holding Mirage and Belzeber with Cliff. The goons had guns pointed at the pranksters' heads. Maria was rooted to the spot at the sight of her brother looking both helpless and furious.

"What is the meaning of this? Let them go Luther!" Maria shouted angrily as the goons chuckled.

"It's your choice, be mine or this school will be missing two class clowns!" he demanded icily.

"I can't make a choice like that..." the blue haired girl felt tears coming to her eyes, but she just shook her head and tried to think of a way to get out of this situation.

"Don't do it Maria! You know he will only use you for his greed if you agree to his terms," Cliff warned as he occasionally glanced over to Mirage to make sure she was still okay. The blonde girl held an expressionless face and only stared straight ahead as she waited for her chance to escape from Berial.

"But if I don't, he'll have you and Mirage killed!" she screamed back in frustration.

"Don't worry about us, we'll find a way out of this. Besides, since when did you ever care about me. All I ever did was embarrass you," he replied in a teasing voice because he knew all along that Maria did love him, even when she acted like she didn't. They were brother and sister and they had a twisted bond that no one could figure out, but one could tell that.

"You idiot! Of course I care about you! You're my brother and you've protected me ever since I was adopted into your family. If you didn't embarrass me, then you wouldn't be much of a brother, but I wish you wouldn't do it so often," she choked out as the tears started falling. As amusing as the heart felt conversation was, Luther was beginning to get impatient and he knew that the longer it took, the sooner the troublemakers could find a way to escape.

"Maria, choose now. Me or their death?"

"I…" she couldn't focus anymore, she couldn't see anymore. Her tears blinded her and her mind would crash when she tried to think through any possible scenario to change the outcome.

"LEAVE THE BOSS ALONE!" a really loud voice called out from the door and before anyone, especially Luther, knew what was happening, Leiber had tackled Luther to the ground and was now wrestling him.

It took a lot of courage for Leiber to stand up to his cousin like that and Maria couldn't be more grateful to her friend and fellow band member. She could hear Mayu back at the doorway cheering her boyfriend on. The goons were stunned at what had happened, giving Mirage the chance she needed. She ground her heel into Berial's shoe and ducked under his arms when he let out a yelp of pain. Cliff elbowed Belzeber to get out of his grasp, but the goon recovered quickly enough to point his gun at Mirage. The pranksters paused to think of the next course of action, but that allowed Berial to kick Mirage's legs and made her fall to the ground. He then raised his gun toward Cliff since Belzeber was now pinning his hostage.

Maria never felt more helpless at what was going on. Her mind was previously forced to make a hard decision and then suddenly a fight started. She couldn't think of what to do. Help her brother or help Leiber? Or should she run away? Suddenly Luther was holding Leiber up by the neck, effectively ending the small fight.

"You DARE attack me?" Luther called out in fury before he threw his cousin aside. Luther's cold gaze was once again directed at Maria, "And you, you're your choice now. I assure you that no one else will be interfering!"

"Want to bet?" a female voice said from above. Nel and Albel jumped down from a large pile of crates and attacked the goons. They knocked the guns out of Berial and Belzeber's hands with their blades and then roughly shoved them against a wall before the goons passed out.

"Lord Nox, Lady Zelpher! What are you doing here?" Luther cried in surprise.

Cliff helped up Mirage and then snickered at Albel, "Hey, look who's wearing a skirt."

"It's a sarong you maggot!" he snapped before turning his attention back to Luther.

"We saw your minions capture our friends and we couldn't just sit back and allow that," Nel explained, seeing as Albel was too occupied in preserving his masculinity.

"Bah, speak for yourself cerise. I'm here because it was good training for the tournament and is less boring than sitting in Biology class." Then Albel's crimson eyes traveled to Luther as Nel rolled her eyes, "…Plus, your maggots expressed such stupidity that I was afraid that it would spread to the other worms."

Luther didn't want it to end like that, he had to get the upper hand again. His ice blue eyes landed on Maria again. Cliff and the others tensed as they realized that he was going to grab her, but Maria had finally come to her senses in time to knee him in the stomach before he could touch her. The blue haired girl then immediately ran to stand beside her friends as the gang leader recovered. Seeing that he was cornered and his goons were out of commission, he tried to run, but Nel threw one of her daggers at the wall beside him before he could move.

Cliff cracked his knuckles, "I have been waiting a long time for this."

"And since you used guns on us, we have every right to defend ourselves _and_ we have high class witnesses," Mirage grinned as she and Cliff advanced on the now helpless Luther.

As Luther was getting his well earned beating, Maria wiped the tears from her eyes and Nel checked to see if she was injured. Mayu had long since ran to Leiber's side and helped him up when Albel noticed them.

"Hey maggots," he growled, making Lieber jump and Mayu glance at him curiously. Again Albel wondered about the amount of stupidity that was in the female maggot, but held all thinking for later and gestured to the goons, "Make yourselves useful for once and throw these other maggots in a dumpster or something."

They quickly moved to do his bidding when Maria finally regained her voice, "Thank you guys for saving my brother and Mirage. And thank you Leiber. That was really brave of you!"

"No problem boss!" he replied as he and Mayu struggled to lift Berial's lithe form together, "I couldn't let Luther get to ya and I had to stand up to him someday."

"Maria, I can't speak for the fatuous asshole, but I can assure you that _I_ would never leave a friend in trouble and I will do anything in my power to help them," Nel replied with a smile and ignored Albel's glare. She then grabbed Maria's arm and guided her to the exit, "Now let's get to class before said asshole decides to suck our blood or something."

"Cerise, you still think I'm a vampire?" he asked in a disapproving tone as he followed the girls.

"No, I think you have fangs in your ass," she quickly replied, earning a laugh from Maria.

Maria decided that after the events of 4th period, she was going to be a little nicer to Cliff and she was never going to avoid her friends ever again when she was feeling down.

* * *

When 5th period came around, Albel and Nel had to demonstrate their battle strategy to Tynave. Now that they were covered on the basics, they were able to combine and modify the many different dances to suit their style. Their movements were completely in sync and their weapons flowed with their frames with a beautiful yet deadly grace. If one were to compete against them, they would certainly be beaten by their advanced offensive and defensive moves. Tynave watched on with pride at her students as they completed their demonstration.

"Very good! I'm going to arrange for a sword fighting team from another school to come and challenge you to a match so you can test out your new strategy in an actual fight. I'm afraid none of the other students here would qualify for your level now," Tynave said as the two sheathed their blades, "Is that alright with you?"

"Yes ma'am," Nel answered with a bow, "I, for one, can't wait to see how effective our technique is."

"Feh, I just wonder if it's enough to grind our fathers' faces in the dirt. We may have to practice even more," Albel muttered as he glared off into the distance.

"You know, I'm quite surprised that your fathers are going to be in the I.S.F.T.. I wonder how they even got in," their coach mused, instantly earning both teens' attention.

"Why is that Miss Tynave?" Nel inquired with interest.

"Well, both Glou and Nevelle were permanently banned from the tournament five years ago. They did something rather stupid that angered the judges, but luckily their blunder is not going to be reflected upon the two of you. Anyway, you should ask them yourselves if you want to know more about it. You two are done for today, you may leave class early if you wish," she announced before heading off to focus on the other students.

Nel was wearing a delicate frown as she glanced at her partner. He had a more furious expression on his face, but it was certain that they were both experiencing the same amount of anger.

"Do you know what this means?" Nel asked in a serious tone.

"Yeah, we better go talk to them tonight and settle this," he replied with a growl.

Around the end of the day, Luther was still lying on the floor of the storage room where Cliff and Mirage had left him. It hurt to move. He was battered and bruised and may have had a broken bone. Or it could have just been fractured, either way it still hurt. They turned the lights off on their way out and left him in darkness. He couldn't tell if he fell asleep during the hours he was laying there or if he was staring up at the ceiling the whole time. He didn't react when he heard the door open, but his eyelids clenched shut for a brief moment when the lights came on.

He didn't bother to look to see who was coming in since moving his head hurt too. But it didn't matter as Sophia came into view with a first aid kit in her arms. Without a word, she knelt down and cleaned off the dried blood that was near his lip and nose and cleaned up the other wounds that were open before they became infected. She debated on whether she should remove his shirt and check for injuries on his chest and decided that it could wait until a little later.

"You…lied to me," he eventually muttered in a horse voice when she started wrapping cloth around some of the injuries, "You said that she would like me if I told her my past…but then she still refused me and then this happened. I blame you for this."

"Blame me all you want, Lou," she muttered gently, not once stopping in her ministrations, "But I said that she _might_ like you and it was awfully stupid of you to threaten to kill Cliff and Mirage. You see, Maria never really falls for anyone, she prefers to make friends. If anything, why couldn't you 'use' her if you could get her to be your friend?"

"Because having a friend sounds weak…"

"Everything 'sounds weak' to you. But if you took the time to try out the things that 'make you weak', then you might find that you enjoy them. At least it shouldn't get you beaten up."

"That doesn't make sense," he muttered as he shook his head, "You don't make sense either."

"Well you might be suffering from a concussion, or you're just too stubborn to see past your allusions of absolute power," she replied as she helped him sit up and lean against a stage prop. When he cringed from the pain, she pulled out a bottle of water and gave him some aspirin.

"I convinced Fayt to let you stay at his house while you recover, that way Blair won't have to see you like this," the brunette explained as she watched him take the painkillers, "We're going to have to move during the night so that Cliff won't see you go in there. I'll come back in a few minutes to move you, okay?"

"Why are you helping me? I threatened you, I tried to trick your friend into working for me, and I almost killed your friends. And yet here you are dressing my wounds, giving me medicine and a place to rest. Why are you always coming back to help me?"

Tears brimmed in her green eyes, leaving him even more confused by her actions as she gathered up the supplies. She then stood up and stared down at him, "It's because…it's because I like you! Okay?"

Sophia then ran out of the room, leaving a very stunned Luther behind. Ten minutes later, she didn't return, but Fayt came by to help him up and walked him to the car that would take them to his house. Fayt had never questioned Luther on the way, nor wondered why Sophia was doing this, he just followed her instructions and let Luther sleep on his couch.

* * *

Glou and Nevelle were where they always were before sunset: at the Zelpher courtyard, plotting something. Albel and Nel approached them with stern faces. The fathers glanced up from their work and looked at each other as they wondered what those looks were for. They were still in their new uniforms and had their blades out.

"Why didn't you tell us you were banned from the I.S.F.T.? Why did you make us think you were competing?" Nel started, earning a wince from her father and an 'uh-oh' from Glou.

"Where did you…Oh never mind, it's useless trying to keep things from you guys, but it sure is fun," Glou said with a shrug.

Nevelle glanced at his daughter and decided to give her an answer, "Well it was one way to get you both to work together. If you thought that you were going against common fighters, then you wouldn't really train hard enough because you don't consider them worthy of your time. But I bet that once you thought we were competing, you were training really hard."

"But, why lie to us?" Albel interjected, "We planned our whole strategy to fight against _you_. And now that we know you're not competing, all our training was wasted!"

"I wouldn't say 'wasted', son. After all, you're assuming that we're the best fighters in the world when in fact we are just among the best. There will be others competing that could probably be stronger or wittier than us. You might need that training to defeat them," Glou explained with a cool look.

"But you don't understand!" Nel called in anger, "We were training to fight you because we _wanted_ to face you in battle!"

"Oh? Why's that?" Nevelle wondered with curious eyes.

"Because you were ones who taught us how to fight and we want to surpass you someday. But since you're banned from the tournament, our chance to fight you is gone!" Albel replied.

Suddenly the fathers stood up and gave their children darker looks.

"Well if that's how you feel about it…" Nevelle started as he reached for his daggers.

"…If you both think you're ready to face us, then let's have a real fight right now. Me and Nevelle against the two of you," Glou finished as he expertly unsheathed his katana.

"Are you ready for this cerise?" Albel asked in a low voice. Nel glanced up in shock from the tone of his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"He said 'If you think you're ready'. We can't face them if I'm the only one who confident enough, you need to be sure about it too."

"Oh I'm ready, alright," she confirmed in an eager voice, "Let's give them what they have had coming to them since we were little kids!"

Albel and Nel stood apart with their weapons ready as Glou and Nevelle mirrored their stance. Albel and Nel's greatest fight had now come.

* * *

Before I forget, I should also thank Lorelai Kline for being there and reading the fic as I write. Anyway, I need to have this story finished by next month so the updates should be quicker. I'd just wish the chapters didn't end up so long! It's a good thing I'm close to the story's end. Well I better get back to work on the next chapter! C ya!


	17. Talk to Me

Well this took longer to write than I thought it would, but I did get it out before five months. It seems that the final chapters are just too long. Oh well. Anyway if anyone has been reading the summaries I post on my profile, then everyone should know that this is THE chapter for all Fayt fans for I will finally be revealing which girl he's ending up with. I hope you enjoy the story, even if the pairing you were hoping for doesn't happen.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean 3 or any of its characters, but I do own the plot of the story. Names of characters and places in SO3 belong to SquareEnix.

Chapter 17

Not being ones to hesitate, Nevelle and Glou made the first move by running toward their own child, but at the last minute, they crisscrossed and nearly caught them off guard. Nevelle effectively pushed Albel back and away from Nel as the Wicked One tried to fend him off with his sword. Glou sent a set of different attacks to Nel, leaving her completely occupied with blocking each one instead of thinking of a way to counter-attack. The fathers knew each other so well that they could mimic their partner's fighting behavior. Normally Nevelle was the one who used quick, multiple attacks while Glou preferred to prevent the other fighter from attacking.

They constantly switched behaviors and threw the teens into a loop as they struggled to catch up. Eventually, the fathers switched places and proved even more of a challenge than before. Nel was nearly thrown out of the battle when Nevelle threw a dagger down close to her feet to get her to leap in the air so he could fling her across the area. Thankfully she was able to land on her feet and blocked her father when he reclaimed his grounded dagger and immediately lunged for her again. Albel had to side-step his father when his blade came down on him. Seeing the opening, Albel tried to make his attack, but Glou was able to defend it and then tried to knock his son down. Instead, Albel jumped back, vaulted over Nevelle, and landed next to his red haired partner.

"Nel," he called before he grabbed her hand and pulled her in front of him. The teens then snapped their feet into position and raised their blades to defend. Albel's katana was in front, near Nel's stomach while she was poised to defend the side and back.

"Aww that's so cute," Glou cooed almost mockingly as he pulled a small digital camera from his back pocket and snapped a picture of them.

"Is that the pose for the beginning of the Blue Hawk dance?" Nevelle wondered as the dark knight put away the camera and readied himself for the next attack.

"Aw come on, since when did Glyphian war dances prove useful in actual battle?" Glou said confidently as Nevelle watched his child critically.

Since Albel and Nel were not moving, the fathers decided to attack again, using the same crisscross technique. This time the teens didn't separate. Albel blocked the majority of the attack while Nel had the chance to make her first strike against Glou. The dark knight had to jump back, leaving the spy defenseless to both Nel's daggers and Albel's katana. The fathers tried again, this time testing them with a direct attack rather than a sneak attack. It only resulted in a perfect block from their kids. Next Glou charged straight on to where Albel would have to block him as Nevelle circled around to attack from behind, but Albel lifted one arm to allow Nel to gracefully twirl behind him and counter her father.

The teens were now back-to-back, giving Nevelle and Glou a good idea. They sent a silent signal to each other and then grinned. They shouldn't be able to maneuver well if they were back-to-back, but the dads were in for a surprise as they began their identical attack. Albel and Nel easily glided out of the way, making the dads end up charging and blocking each other. The teens both turned inward to where Nel was once again against Albel's front, but the stance was now different. Albel's blade was now in his left hand and was held out next to Nel's left dagger before them. His right hand was around hers so that either one could move the right dagger that was held out to the side. Nevelle jumped up and tried to grab Glou.

"Move back, it's the Cobra Strike Waltz!" the spy shouted as he backed away. Glou soon followed after the teens slid their front most foot toward him and thrust their left hand blades along with them, making them appear like a cobra attacking, just as the dance name implied. The dad's jumped back a few more feet so that they could discuss the sudden change in the battle's outcome.

"This is quite unusual," Nevelle muttered, "I've never thought of melding several dances together like they have."

"Plus, they move like they are reading each other's mind, but that can't be possible yet, can it? They haven't been training long enough for them to read each other so well," Glou observed. Suddenly the teens decided that since their fathers had caught on to the method of the Cobra Strike Waltz, they moved into a new position. They were back-to-back again with Nel slightly facing the back, but had most of her body and her blades facing them. Nevelle took note of the positioning of their feet.

"Hey Glou see how Albel's feet are positioned and how Nel's right foot is close to his left one?"

"Yeah…"

"That's the pose for the Sickle Moon. How familiar are you with that dance?"

"I still know a lot about that one, like how to perfectly counter it if they do use it on me," he replied as his crimson eyes shifted from Nevelle to the teens.

"Right, you should charge first and I'll be ready to pull Nel away. This is our only chance to take back our advantage by separating them."

But just as Glou began to run towards them, Nevelle noticed Albel shifting his feet the other way with Nel getting ready to move in the opposite direction than what was originally in the dance. "Glou stop! They're doing the Arian Defense!" warned Nevelle.

It was too late as Nel caught Glou's katana blade in her daggers and Albel used his sword to knock the hilt out of his father's hand. But it didn't stop with disarming him, Nel jumped back to allow Albel room so that he could kick Glou in the stomach and send him flying back to Nevelle. Glou was now out of the battle.

"Ah! Damn!" the dark knight called as his bottom hit the ground.

"Heh, so much for being among the wittiest, right father?" scoffed Albel. All he got was a glare and a hidden pout. It wasn't until Nel moved in front of him and blocked Nevelle's dagger that Albel noticed he was being attacked.

"Save your ego for later when I'm not around to hear it!" she scolded under the strain of holding back the forceful attack. If he had a retort, he didn't bother to share it as he forced Nevelle back with his attack. The spy glanced at his eliminated partner and then back at the teens. Winning wasn't going to be so easy anymore.

"Well it's two against one, not much chance for me is there? I should quit while I'm ahead..."

Nevelle waited until the teens relaxed and then made a surprise attack. Once Albel and Nel caught on, they quickly moved into the Cobra Strike Waltz formation. The spy was easily able to side-step the strike and avoided the dagger that was held to the side. He then grabbed Nel by the arm with the intent to separate them, but Albel wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her away from him. He then slashed at Nevelle to get him to back up, giving Nel the chance to disarm him with a sneak attack from below. Her next move was a swift kick to the chest, similar to the one Albel has given to Glou, leaving Nevelle to land near where Glou was now glowering and drinking tea.

"We got them!" Nel shouted victoriously.

Albel smirked slightly as he watched her, "Yeah, we did, though next time I hope to defeat my father on my own. …But for now this victory is enough."

By the look on his face, it seemed to Nel that Albel was torn between his displeasure that he had needed her help and his happiness that their strategy had worked. Little did she know that her sarong had ridden up enough to where the bottom of her butt was showing. True, it was covered with the black leggings and he couldn't tell if she was wearing a thong, but it was enough to catch his attention. So much for not giving free shows…

"So, how did you get banned?" Nel inquired as Nevelle plopped into a seat to join Glou in their mutual defeat. They weren't too thrilled that they lost to their children, but it was better than being beaten by some stranger or rival. There was also a bit of pride that Albel and Nel had trained so hard just to defeat them, but their defeat may have proved that both were getting on in years. When Nel presented her question, Nevelle and Glou's expressions melted away into embarrassed looks, giving the teens a pretty good idea what to assume.

"Uh...it's a long story…" the spy explained as he poured himself some tea, "you wouldn't be interested."

"I knew it," Nel muttered, "It was something stupid wasn't it?"

"Well…" Glou started, "You _could_ say that it was all your father's fault."

"What are you talking about? You were the one who said that the judge must have a thing for fat women and then proceeded to make fat jokes about his wife," Nevelle argued.

"Yeah, but you were the one who planted a microphone on me so that everyone could hear me!"

"That was for revenge…" the spy said as he avoided his friend's gaze.

"For what?"

"For sending those strippers to my house before I proposed to Sonya all those years ago."

"They were a congratulatory present for you since you finally got the balls to ask her!"

"But they were male strippers," Nevelle growled, "You thought I was gay."

"No I didn't. …Fine okay that _was_ a prank. I wanted to see how Sonya would react."

"So to end the story, it was all Glou's fault," Nevelle finished.

"I'm not agreeing to that. It was your fault," Glou retorted before Albel and Nel became tired of their argument and left. They just _had_ to be banned because of a silly reason…

* * *

As planned, Sophia called Blair and told her that her brother was staying at Fayt's house for a few days to complete a school project. Luther's injuries were expected to fade in a few days so the plan would work. Anything that was still visible on his face could be explained away as an accidental fall. At first Fayt was clueless about what had happened to Luther, but when he found out, he immediately confronted her.

"Why on Elicoor are you helping him after what he tried to do to Maria… And Cliff and Mirage! They could have been killed!" he argued when they were in the privacy of their room. They were both leaning against their window sills, talking in hushed voices, while Luther rested downstairs.

"Actually, they weren't in any real danger," Sophia said as she knelt down at her window, "When getting rid of the guns, Cliff noticed that Berial and Belzeber hadn't even loaded them. I think they did it on purpose because Luther was so desperate, he wanted to get Maria badly."

"Well, I can see why …I guess. I wouldn't go to that extreme though," he muttered while glaring at his floor.

"Yeah you would. Maybe not threaten to kill somebody, but you'd probably go to a high building and say that you'd jump if they kept refusing you."

"Fine, okay!" he shouted before he turned so that his back was leaning against the window sill, "But you should know that I can't accept him, I'm only doing this for you because you begged."

"I know and thank you, Fayt," she replied with a smile, "Once he's better, I don't think he'll go after Maria again so no one will have to worry about it."

"What makes you so sure of that? If I were in his shoes, I'd still go after her. When it comes to love, she'd be worth it." There was a skeptical glance on his face.

"But that's the thing: Luther doesn't love Maria. He just wanted to use her as his personal money maker."

Fayt whipped around to face her. "What? That's stupid! Where is he getting these ideas? From Cliff's failed plan pile? No wait, even Cliff's plans are smarter than his."

"That's not true! He just wanted something he couldn't get and tried everything he could think of to get it," Sophia defended, "…Just let him recover and then we'll see what he will do. He might not change completely, but he might change his mind about the world."

"What I don't get is why _him_? Of all guys, you had to pick him. You do realize that he's not the same boy we used to play tag with when we were little. He's turned into a monster and there's no going back for him."

"Are you sure he's such a monster?" she asked with a pleading look to get Fayt to understand. She then turned around so that her back was against the sill and held an expression that almost appeared to be a pout, "The fact that he still loves Blair means that he can still change. What makes you so different Fayt? Although your parents aren't dead, they aren't around as much. How is it that you're still kind while Luther is struggling to be good for his sister and to be powerful to his peers?"

"I guess it's because Blair isn't you. She doesn't have the time to listen to his problems even though she tries. And Luther can't trust that she loves him enough because he has to keep secrets from her." Fayt paused to glance at the back of her head, "Sophia, you were the one who was always there and helped me when I needed it the most. You were the reason why I'm still kind and why I have no abandonment issues. That's what makes Luther and me different."

There was a tiny smile on her face as she drew up her knees and rested her head on them, "Thanks Fayt. …You do realize that I'm going to spend more time with Luther and try to help him, right? But don't worry, I will still be there for you too."

"Yeah I know," he replied in a resigned tone before switching to a concerned tone, "But be careful about him. I don't want what happened to Maria to happen to you."

"I'm of no practical use to him so he won't want me for anything until he decides that he wants to be 'weak' like everyone else," she replied with a mocking reference towards the injured party.

"Right… I better go down there to check up on him. He might have enough energy to go through my stuff," Fayt said as he stood up.

"Fayt!" Sophia scolded with a disapproving glare. She then remembered that she had brought Luther's dinner up with her and placed a tray with a homemade cheese enchilada and rice on Fayt's sill. "Here's Luther's dinner. Could you please take it down to him for me?"

"What about _my_ dinner?" the blue haired boy whined as he picked up the tray.

"I'll bring it up in a second. You're getting a chicken sandwich," Sophia said with a grin before getting up and heading to her door.

"Why does Luther get a fancy dinner and I just get a chicken sandwich?" he muttered to himself, not expecting the brunette to hear him.

"Because he's recovering!" the girl shouted, earning a slight jump from Fayt as he was leaving his room.

Downstairs, Luther was contemplating the words Sophia had shouted at him the other night as he rested on the couch.

"_Because I like you!_ _Okay?"_

It was unusual to hear something like that because he was only used to having everyone fear him. What should he do about it? He had no use for her, save for maybe getting her to obtain blackmail on his enemies. But Sophia was unlike others. Somehow he knew that even if she liked him, she wouldn't devote herself to him completely. She would still be independent and contradict him if he crossed her morals. He couldn't think of a way to get rid of her either. She would probably still feel the same about him even if he told her to get lost.

Would she cry if he told her that he didn't feel the same? For some reason, he didn't like the thought of her crying. It was another strange behavior he had been exhibiting in the past few weeks. He suddenly cared about her opinion no matter how naïve it sounded. Up until he had the opportunity to proceed with his plan for Maria, he had been careful not to conduct his business with Sophia nearby. He didn't want her upset with him…

Suddenly Fayt came down and set a tray on the coffee table near Luther. The blue haired boy didn't seem too pleased, but he kept his mouth shut and his opinions to himself.

"Where's Sophia?" The words came out of Luther's mouth before he could stop them. He didn't want to sound so curious about her, but at the same time, he wanted to know.

"In her room doing her homework," he lied as he walked back towards the stairs, "She gets grouchy when interrupted so I wouldn't recommend talking to her now."

"Leingod…" Luther started before Fayt could climb the stairs, "You seem to know her enough to know what goes in her mind."

"Maybe," he replied guardedly as his hand clenched the railing. He still couldn't trust the gang leader despite what Sophia had tried to tell him.

"Then what does it mean when she says 'I like you'? Is there something she wants or is it an excuse to help someone so that she doesn't have to reveal her disgust with them?"

Had it not been for the fact that the blue haired boy was expecting a threat or some kind of insult towards Sophia, he would have burst out laughing. He did manage to hold back a snort though and that caught the strawberry blonde's attention.

"Luther, when she says 'I like you' she means it. I don't know how or why, but you captured her heart and she wants to try to help you be happy. I honestly don't know who to feel sorrier for, Sophia, or you."

"Happy? Hmph, what does she know about happiness?" Luther scowled as he glared at the meal that was obviously made by the pretty brunette. Her cooking skills were famous in the school and anyone could recognize her dishes by the elegance of how it was presented.

"She obviously knows more about it than you," Fayt retorted as he retreated back up to his room.

A few days and a weekend later, Luther was able to return to school without anyone knowing where he had been. It was like nothing had ever happened as his goons immediately followed their boss loyally. He ignored Cliff's smug looks and much to everyone's relief, he didn't bother to retaliate. Instead, he spent most of the school day silently following Sophia. He just couldn't figure her out and figured that he should observe her in order to find out what was going through her mind. Normally a task like this was work for Berial and Belzeber, but they wouldn't understand what they were watching for, nor understand why he wanted it done. Also, they wouldn't have the patience to follow someone for a _whole_ day, they have an attention span of a roach.

His eyes watched her movements from across the cafeteria that morning before homeroom. She was laughing with Maria, until Fayt cracked another joke about her laugh. She then tried to hit him for the comment, but couldn't reach his head because he kept moving out of the way. She eventually bargained with Cliff to hit him for her in exchange of a supply of old homework for him to use as spit wads. What a curious girl and what a curious feeling he was getting now…

* * *

Over at the nearly forgotten Jr. High, Peppita was heading towards her locker as the homeroom bell rang. She wasn't too worried about being late and took her time. Her classroom was halfway across the school from her locker so the teacher allowed some extra time for everyone after the tardy bell before he started counting students late. After all, it wasn't fair to give extra time to one person, everyone must have it too.

The weather was too cold for her to wear her dress, but she had recently gone shopping with Dulcinea and Ursus for winter clothes and gotten herself a brand new style. She was now wearing black jean pants with a light blue long-sleeved shirt with a long sweater coat over it. The new clothes were enough to make the boys act strange around her again as they all stared at her with dreamy looks. She assumed that it meant that they liked her fashion sense because the gazes were usually directed to the chest area of her shirt, which had the words 'Diva of the Stage' on it, rather than her face. And, for some reason, they seemed to like viewing her back a lot…

She hadn't seen much of Roger lately and figured that he was upset that all the girls were wearing pants now instead of skirts. That meant no more of his favorite pastime of looking up their skirts. …Then again he hadn't been doing that hobby long before the fashion change. She had almost forgotten that he had seemed to change. Peppita now accepted the fact that she might like Roger, but she wasn't sure if it was more than friendship because she barely knew about him. It was funny, she had known him since kindergarten and yet she never really _knew_ him. …Well besides that he was a pervert with a thing for older women, usually ones in high school. But now that his old habits were gone, he was like a new person to her.

"Hello Peppita," a young male voice said from beside her. She glanced around frantically to find the person talking to her before she remembered to look down. Most of the boys were from Surferio, but she hadn't quite gotten used to the fact that they were all rather short. When she glanced down, she met the eyes of one Lucien.

"Hey shorty," she greeted cheerfully, not once thinking that someone would take offense to her mentioning their height. In this case Lucien didn't seem to mind as he tried to lean closer to her. She wondered if boys had problems with respecting other people's personal space before smiling slightly and backing away a tiny bit.

"You look very pretty today," he commented, apparently having a hard time thinking of something else to say.

"Thank you." It was about time someone said something about her outfit. She was beginning to think that the stares meant that they _didn't_ like it. There was a long moment of awkward silence before Peppita decided that she had better go before she was really late. That teacher wasn't going to be too nice if she took advantage of his kindness.

"Well I've got to go," she announced as she tried to side-step him and leave, but his hand shot out to grab hers so that she couldn't go.

"Wait…I wanted to ask you if…" he paused as he tried to find the right words, "…Would you go out with me? I know this great place where we could go hang out an' eat."

It was a shock to say the least. No one had ever asked her out before! Peppita didn't think the boys were interested in her. But…as for her answer… She couldn't really say yes because she wasn't interested in Lucien enough to get to know him. Plus, Roger and his friends didn't seem to like him. Perhaps it was for a good reason.

"Oh I'm sorry. I can't," she began before the boy became a little angry.

"Why?" he inquired … no, more like demanded.

"Well…because…" she tried to think of a good excuse that wouldn't hurt his feelings, "Uh, because I'm going out with Roger!"

"With _Roger_?" Lucien spat in disgust, "Why with _him_?"

Perhaps that wasn't the best excuse to use. She now knew that Roger's feelings for him were mutual, "Oh, well, because…he's kinda cute I guess."

It didn't seem to help in the least, leaving her to quickly excuse herself to get to her homeroom in time. Unbeknownst to Peppita and Lucien, Melt and Dribe were nearby and had heard the whole thing.

"Peppita dating _Roger_! When did that happen?" Dribe inquired in mix shock and amusement. Melt shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's highly improbable that he had managed to even ask her. Perhaps she made it up as an excuse not to date Lucien?"

"Maybe…" Dribe agreed slightly, "But then why pick Roger of all people? She even said that he was cute!"

Melt blinked as he stored the information, "True. There may be something going on here. After all Roger was only called a rat by most girls, not 'cute'."

"Yeah, I never got that." Dribe rested his hands behind his head, "All the girls claim he's a rat, but he looks more like a raccoon to me."

"He always reminded me of a common squirrel," Melt said before he had a rather good thought, "We should tell Roger."

"Nah, he doesn't like it when we try to guess what he looks like," Dribe said as he threw down his hands and walked in an almost complete circle.

"No, I mean tell him about Peppita," Melt clarified as he adjusted his glasses.

"Oh yeah…"

But the two boys knew that it would be hard to find the Menodix now that he was a 'changed man' as Roger had put it. No longer did he linger under stairs to look up girl's skirts, nor did he spend his time near that hole that revealed the girls' changing room. And of course he would not be found at the school roof with binoculars trying to find Nel or other girls in the neighboring high school. They, or rather Melt, had to think hard. What would Roger still be doing despite his new change? Or rather, what was the only other thing he did that wasn't perverted?

It struck them like lightening when they figured it out and rushed to Roger's homeroom class. He would still be trying to plan pranks on Lucien since their teacher never showed up for class. As for Melt and Dribe's homeroom, let's say that they were lucky that their names were not added to the list so they were not missed in class. The minute they ran through the door, a bucket of banana pudding (a flavor Lucien just hated) from the cafeteria fell beside them, with only a small droplet landing on Melt's arm.

"Aw, that was for Lucien guys!" Roger whined as Melt licked the substance off his arm.

"Yeah well Lucien won't be coming in for a while," Dribe announced, earning a confused look from the Menodix. Some of the students that were still awake glanced at them with boredom in their eyes.

"Wha? How come?" he asked frantically as he wondered if he could set up another trap before Lucien came.

"Because he was asking Peppita out," Melt informed calmly, knowing that their 'leader' was about to make a scene.

"WHAT? How dare he? Peppita is mine!" he growled, his pranking plans now turning into thoughts of beating up his rival.

"Well, actually, you have never told her how you feel, so technically she isn't yours," Melt commented.

"Besides, she flat out refused him anyway," Dribe added, making Roger relax a little.

"Oh, well that's good."

Sometimes one had to wonder if Melt and Dribe love toying with Roger's explosive reactions to things because Melt set him off again. "She refused because she claimed she was going out with you."

"WHAT? W-we are?" he shakily inquired with a smile.

"Ha, didn't think he knew about it," Dribe chuckled, earning a small glare from Roger, "Cause last time I checked, he hadn't had the 'chance' to ask her out."

"Shaddup moron…" retorted Roger.

"Anyway," Melt continued as he adjusted his glasses in a serious manner, "It is not certain if she just used you as an excuse or she had reasons to mention you specifically. She mentioned that you were 'cute'."

"Really?" Roger asked with child-like wonder before he straightened himself to look smug and examined his fingernails, "Yeah, all pretty girls dig the Roge. Peppita's just too shy to admit it to me, but she still wants to make sure I'm single so that's why she's bragging."

That made Dribe burst out in uncontrollable laughter and he ruined 'the Roge's' little pose as he slapped him on the back, "HAHAHA! That's a good one!"

"Either way, regardless of whether she likes you or not, she must have expected her excuse to be passed on as gossip. Sooner or later you would have heard about it and would have to confront her-" Suddenly Melt was cut off as Roger jumped up.

"Then that means she has no choice but to go out with me!" The Menodix was about to run off to talk to Peppita, but Dribe and Melt grabbed his arms to prevent him from going, "Hey! Lemme go!"

"I'm afraid talking to her right now might not be such a good idea, especially if you think that," the genius boy explained so that Roger would calm down, "You might ruin your chances altogether if you don't say the right thing."

"Then what am I supposed to say?" the Menodix inquired in an annoyed fashion as his tail swished impatiently.

Melt smiled as his eyes gleamed, "I'm glad you asked that. Dribe, hold him down while I go get the books."

"What?" Roger shrieked as Dribe did as he was told, "No way! I don't want to _learn_ anything!"

By now only a handful of students were awake and they looked like nothing exciting ever happened at their school, even as Roger screamed his lungs out as Melt returned with three rather large books .

* * *

"Sophia?"

"Here!" the brunette said cheerfully like it was all sunshine and unicorns outside. Clair marked her as present and then cringed when she noticed who was next on the roll list.

"Dear Apris…" she muttered under her breath before calling sarcastically, "King Cliff, have you graced us with your odious presence?"

"I'm here Miss Clair. And I'll have you know that I showered four days ago," he replied in a smug tone as Fayt, Clair, Nel, and Maria started snickering. Albel muttered 'maggot' under his breath.

Mirage leaned over to whisper in his ear, "She was not saying that you smell when she called you odious, she was pretty much indicating that you were annoying."

"Oh…"

"Mirage."

"Tut." All she received from Clair was a blank stare, leaving the blonde to let out a sigh, "It's Ukrainian."

"I see…" Clair decided to believe her since she didn't really know any other languages besides English, "Fayt."

"Here," he replied with a sweet smile in her direction. It caused Nel to glare at Albel when he started making the look that he was going to go on his 'They're having an affair' speech. …Not that Albel really cared of they were or not, but it made her angry so it was worth pretending he was interested in it.

"Good morning Fayt," she replied back before moving on in the list, "Welch."

"Present!"

"Maria," the silver haired teacher's aide continued in her usual monotone voice for roll call.

"Here."

"Nel."

"Not here," the red head answered with a smirk as Clair obtained a similar look.

"You wish. …Albel."

"Hn." Was his response.

"I guess that means 'here, but brain dead'," she said as she finished marking on the list. Albel glanced at the other side of the classroom as he muttered 'worm', earning a punch to the shoulder from Nel. Next were the announcements of the day.

"Well it seems Lasselle has decided to give the seniors back their pre-winter break field trip. About a week before winter break we will be traveling across the Mosel Desert to get to the Ruins of Mosel."

"Why there?" Cliff wondered with slight disgust of having to go there.

"Because it's educational…" Clair replied in a deadpan voice, "…Or it could be that Lasselle is secretly out to get you all and is hoping the bus breaks down in the middle of the desert. Anyway, I'm going to pass out the permission forms and they are due on December 1st…which is this Friday so don't forget to get them signed or else lose the chance to skip classes."

"Well when you put it that way… Of course I want to go on the field trip," the muscled teen responded with a Sophia-like cheery grin and signed his permission form since he was old enough to speak for himself.

Mirage had another two months before her birthday and put away her paper to forge a signature later. Fayt, Maria, and Sophia had to get their parents to sign later. Fayt was lucky since his parents were due back home tomorrow night on Thursday. Nel went ahead and signed hers before reading the details of the trip. They were leaving on December 9…the day before Albel's birthday. She had almost forgotten about it.

She looked over Albel who was doodling on the back of his permission form. The pictures ranged from random bloody blades, names of heavy metal bands with blood dripping off the letters, and what appeared to be Nel's stuffed bunny, BloodyClaws, with a long katana going through its head. Considering that there were no heavy metal concerts happening anytime near his birthday, she didn't have a clue on what to get him. She knew Glou and Karen were getting him his sword and designer sheath … well at least Karen was going to, Glou might just give him a gag gift. Also he had every CD ever made in heavy metal history, even the rare ones.

When she noticed that Albel was staring at her in retaliation for her staring at him, she quickly asked, "Are you going to go on the trip?"

"Bah, of course I am…" This shocked her because she had expected him to say no. Albel the Wicked willingly going to a social event? There had better be a method to this madness!

"R-really," she inquired, unsure that he was feeling well.

"Have you seen the date on that? It's an overnight field trip that will return on my birthday. You and I both know my father saves his surprises for midnight so going on this will spare me from it," he explained as he gave the BloodyClaws drawing another blade through the eye for good measure.

"Oh that makes sense… but what if he waits for before midnight on the night of your birthday?" she wondered, knowing Glou wouldn't give up because of small difficulties like that.

"Then he gets my new katana up his ass," he snapped tartly, almost sounding serious. He wouldn't really hurt his father outside of battle, but at the same time, he would stop him from completing a prank on him.

"Whatever you say…Albel the Daddy's Boy." She smirked casually as her head leaned against her hand. There was a scrape of the desk as Albel stood up and faced her, appearing as though he was in a fighting stance and was ready to attack her. Lately he seemed to be rather sensitive to anything related to his father. She couldn't even begin to determine why though.

"You're getting on my last nerves with that, woman!" Sophia squeaked before hiding under her desk as Maria stared at them wide eyed. Fayt had been playing Xenosaga all night again and was now asleep on his desk while Cliff grinned at Albel while Mirage pulled out a tallied paper.

"That would make the score: Albel – 87 and Nel – 54," the female prankster announced as she marked the new tally with one of her new colored sharpies she acquired from Berial after Luther's big plan.

"That's all I got?" Nel muttered, not even concerned about the death glare the Wicked One was giving her. The fact that she was being blasé and how she seemed to ignore him made him even angrier.

"Um, Albel, maybe you should sit down," Clair suggested carefully so that she wouldn't set him off on some killing spree, "Or at least go outside to cool down."

"Feh, I've had enough of this…" he glanced at Nel one more time, "fool."

He then stormed out and slammed the door shut, making Nel cringe slightly from the force of his fury. Perhaps she went a little too far that time…

* * *

It took awhile for Nel to appease Albel's anger, well actually just five minutes because he accepted her apologies. Or it could be that she promised not to call him 'Baka-kun' for a month. Even though he was calm and all was forgiven, he still seemed a bit angry with her. In fact lately, he always seemed like he was mad at her for something, but it didn't seem to be a direct behavior. He seemed supersensitive about any mentioning of Glou. It was perhaps related, but Nel still couldn't figure out how. She decided that it would be best to stay in his favor and not insult him for a while. Anything she could say might destroy their friendship and not to mention ruin their chances for the I.S.F.T. they were still going to compete in.

They were walking to their 3rd period class from Duke Vox's room with Fayt and Cliff. As usual Cliff was trying to goad reactions from Albel by constantly teasing him. Ever since he saw the Wicked One in his swordsman uniform, the prankster sometimes called him 'Lady Nox'. Fayt had eventually run ahead of the group and ultimately disappeared from sight, leaving the others to wonder where he went as Maria and Mirage joined them. Sophia wasn't with them anymore because the school had a Theater Arts competition for the upper classmen. Sophia had the lead role and had left to go on the trip after homeroom.

Ever since the beginning of the year, Mirage had her own private class with Coach Adray and Clair called 'Morning Detention'. It was because of the grand prank back in her freshman year where she rigged almost all of the cafeteria tables to dump trays unto the laps of students and some teachers as a birthday gift for Cliff. The special class was also arranged for her because they couldn't figure out where else to put her. Mirage was far ahead of most students academically and Lasselle knew that as a troublemaker, she would be planning pranks if she got any free time. The female prankster was currently reciting a story involving the eccentric coach and his unfortunate daughter.

"Oh! And Miss Clair nearly passed out when he did that!" Mirage exclaimed excitedly as Nel shuddered in worry for her silver haired friend. The red haired girl then realized that Albel was glaring at her. She wanted to stick her tongue out at him, but decided against it for the good of others since he was a walking time bomb now.

"Are you okay?" Nel eventually asked in a whisper so the others wouldn't listen in, "You're staring at me like I've done something to offend you and I'd like to know what I did."

"You didn't do anything. It's my father I'm angry with and it has nothing to do with you," Albel muttered as he stared straight ahead.

"But then why-?" she began as his crimson eyes turned back to her with a steely emotion as he firmly demanded in a deadpan voice, "Drop it."

"Fine, jerk," she retorted as her features twisted into a frown, "but don't take your anger out on me and stop glaring at me like I'm your enemy."

Everyone suddenly froze in their tracks when they noticed that Fayt and Clair were in front of the door to the auditorium, both smiling happily. They couldn't hear the words too well, but it wasn't necessary when Fayt suddenly went over to hug the teacher's aide. Nearly all eyes widened as they went to hide behind an archway. Nel had to drag Albel with her since he didn't care if he was caught or not. The blade loving teens were watching from one end of the archway while the others were at the other end.

"What's he think he's doing hugging Miss Clair?" Cliff whispered to the others with a small hint of amusement, "What a hotshot!"

Mirage elbowed him in the stomach as she wondered how this would affect Maria but all Maria did was look on with a tiny look of sadness as she muttered, "Poor Sophia."

She couldn't believe that Fayt was a two timer and wondered if Sophia knew about it. Should she tell her? Maria couldn't believe that she wasn't angry with Fayt for what he was doing. She was more concerned about his happiness rather than hers, but at the same time, she didn't like the fact that it was going to hurt her friend. Nel rolled her eyes at the others' reactions and when Albel muttered something about 'an affair between fools'.

"Come on guys, don't jump to conclusions. We all know Fayt would hug anyone, that's just the way he is," she told the others to make them stop thinking that Clair was into guys like Fayt… Well technically Fayt _was_ Clair's type, but that was not the point at the moment.

"So you're saying he's gay?" Albel inquired from behind her.

"No! I'm saying that there must be a reason why he's hugging her. Maybe he heard some good news or something," Nel amended before there was a misunderstanding.

"No, it sounds like you're calling him gay," Cliff replied with slightly narrowed eyes, "That's just low."

Mirage, being one of the equal rights supporters, wondered if her boyfriend was indicating that there was something wrong with being different, "Are you saying that it's wrong to be gay? I think you're the one being low."

"No, I'm just saying that calling a guy, who's obviously straight, gay is low. I have nothing against gays. Lesbians rock!" Cliff flinched from the cold glare Mirage gave him from the last comment, "…Uh just kiddin'."

Fayt let go of Clair and nodded his farewell before he went inside the auditorium. Clair soon turned around and headed back in the direction of the gym's locker room because the blue haired boy had mentioned that there was a strange smell and she assumed it was because of what her father did this morning had lingered on her clothes.

"I'm serious guys," Nel said as they came out of hiding, "I know Clair and she doesn't like Fayt in that way."

Mirage, Cliff, and Maria still looked unsure considering that Fayt was always around Clair for the past few months. Nel needed someone to speak on Fayt's behalf to prove to them that there wasn't anything going on. Where was Sophia when you needed her?

"Nel, believe what you will, but…" Mirage trailed off sympathetically, "maybe you don't know Clair as well as you used to. Those two are getting awfully close."

"And so you're calling her a liar, worm?" Albel suddenly inquired as he walked around Nel and faced Mirage.

"No," she shook her head calmly, "I'm just saying that since this has gone on too long with too many of these 'coincidences'. It's useless to hide behind an excuse that something _isn't_ happening between the two."

Albel didn't appear to be ready for a fight and his stance was way too relaxed for any type of attack. Cliff didn't bother going into protective mode since it didn't appear that Mirage was in any danger. The Wicked One 'feh'ed and started walking toward the door to the auditorium.

"One thing you should know, worm, is that when someone says they know someone, then they mean it. However, the blue haired fool is not spoken for and no one seems to want to ask him for the truth. In the end, it's not your business…"

"Can't argue with that logic," Maria agreed, trying hard not to be affected by the subject. It wasn't certain if Fayt was a two timer, had a crush on Clair but had to settle for Sophia, or there was really nothing going on. Unless someone asked, then the truth would remain clouded by gossip that they themselves created. Still it was difficult for Maria to separate her feelings for the blue haired boy from the topic at hand. She had to remind herself that he was Sophia's boyfriend… well unless it's proven that he's dating Clair. Cliff and Mirage glanced at each other and then at the forlorn features of Maria's face.

"Yeah, I guess that's a good point," Cliff began before briefly touching his sister's shoulder, "We better get inside the classroom before Miss Farleen shows up and screams at us for being tardy."

Once they were in, Nel lingered behind with Albel as she mulled over the fact that he stood up for her. Normally she would yell at him for thinking that she couldn't handle things herself, but considering how he was recently upset with her, it was quite surprising that he was considerate enough to help her. Perhaps there was a motive behind it…

"Albel? Why did you help me back there? I was half expecting you to tell me that 'they were having an affair' again."

He glanced at her with a lighter look in his eyes, only because she had asked him to stop glaring at her, "I can't stand listening to worms who doubt the people who often tell the truth. Besides, it doesn't necessarily have to be two to have a twisted affair going on …cerise."

It was unnerving to hear him call her by that nickname now. He didn't have a smirk or a taunting edge to his tone, he just gave her sarcastic insults, called her names, and teased her without any emotion. What happened that make him act this way? This may be getting serious. Over at the platform stage, everyone was trying to act like they hadn't previously seen Fayt outside. Suddenly Farleen came in with a sly smirk and a few giggles as she searched for Maria.

"Oh Maria, we're going to have a special guest in class today and I would like you to sing a certain kind of song."

"What kind of a song?" the blue haired singer wondered with interest. The high pitched teacher only gestured her to lean her head closer to her, making Maria a bit reluctant. Miss Farleen had been known to randomly yell when whispering into someone's ear.

When Maria decided to go for it, the purple haired teacher giggled and then said, "A ROMANITC song!"

The poor singer nodded and then held a hand to the ear that now most likely had a ruptured ear drum. Why did Miss Farleen want a romantic song anyway? Was her boyfriend coming or something? Once it felt like she regained hearing in the damaged ear, she began to shout orders to the rest of the band.

"Well, well, I can't believe you guys are seniors now…especially Cliff!" a masculine voice that was pleasing to the ears called from the back. Everyone turned to find Lancar walking down the aisle to reach the stage.

"Hey!" Cliff shouted as he raised his violin bow to point at him, "Don't you know any better? When you graduate you're not suppose'ta come back until the school reunion."

"Yeah well, I had to come visit someone here who's also breaking that rule," the handsome muscled brunette replied as he ran a hand through his hair. Fayt let out something akin to a masculine squeal which if Sophia were present, she'd call it the 'dreaded fanboy squeal'. He almost dropped his expensive technology in his rush to run to Lancar. Since Lancar was now working for a major video game company, that automatically made him Fayt's hero.

"So about the… and how is that…" the crazed fanboy tried to carry on a conversation with him, but couldn't finish his sentences or pick one question due to the overwhelming excitement.

Lancar placed a hand on his head as he chuckled, "Hang on there, I'll tell you everything you want to know in a while. But first I need to talk to Clair, where is she?"

"Oh she'll be coming in a few minutes!" Fayt replied cheerfully when the company game designer backed away and took a deep breath.

"Wait a minute!" Nel called from her seat at the piano, "Are you finally going to-?"

"Oh yeah," he replied with a semi confidant smirk, "In a way you can consider this my revenge on her. She got me good when I failed to say it last time."

"Revenge?" she echoed in an unbelieving tone, "Right. We'll see how you'll pull it off now… Heh, _if_ you pull it off."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Cherry Head, I love you too!" Lancar retorted sarcastically, using the nickname he had given Nel back when he was in high school. Nel only stuck her tongue out in reply as Albel watched the exchange between the two with a raised eyebrow. He didn't bother to speak or move from his position by the wall because he didn't view Lancar as a threat. Nel let out a private smile when she turned back to the piano. She knew what was going to happen and Fayt possibly knew too since he tended to know everything about his heroes.

As for the rest of the students, they had no clue what the two old friends were talking about. Maria was growing bored and figured that they should start playing the song since it appeared that Lancar was the special guest, but Farleen made the signal not to start yet. She glanced at the teacher in confusion until the doors opened and Clair came in. Suddenly Lancar's lax posture straightened and he froze in place like a deer caught in headlights. His gaze was completely locked on her figure as she glanced around and headed in. Clair had no clue why she had been called to come here, but when she saw Lancar, she smiled and quickly approached him. Farleen frantically signaled Maria to start singing and after a few stunned moments of figuring out what was going on, Maria cued in the band.

As the slow melody drifted in the air and Maria's gentle voice started accompanying it, Lancar slowly relaxed again and greeted the silver haired girl. The music faded from his ears and was replaced by the heavy beating of his heart when Clair finally reached him.

"Hey Clair, I see you're still doing well," he began as he rubbed the back of his head. Clair didn't appear to be nervous at all compared to Lancar and simply nodded.

"Yeah I'm still alive even though dad tried to kill me this morning by playing with his monster truck engine. The smell got stuck to my clothes so I had to change…again," she grumbled as the memories of last period came to mind. Lancar chuckled and was tempted to make a light joke about old Thunder Fart, but he couldn't think straight to remember what he wanted to say.

"Heh, good ol' Adray…" he let out, the laugh coming out a little higher pitched than intended.

When it didn't seem like he was going to say anything else, she decided to ask, "So how's the game industry besides what you've been telling me in the e-mails?"

"Fine," Lancar cleared his throat so he wouldn't squeak again. He then glanced away from her so he could collect his thoughts, "I finally got promoted to head designer and I'm only under a handful of higher-ups. The job pays well and I finally got my life stable after I bought a house in Aquaria. It's in a nice neighborhood and everything."

"That's good to hear," Clair commented as she advanced on him, "So what brings you back to the high school? Re-visiting old memories?"

"W-well, you see… I came to correct a mistake I made two years ago, before we graduated. Back then I didn't think I could handle a responsibility like that and chickened out at the last minute…before you gave me that fine farewell by filling my car with Benedryl," he took another deep breath to gain some courage as Clair tried to look as innocent as possible when he mentioned her goodbye prank, "Well now I think I'm ready to finally ask you what I should have asked back then."

Maria stopped singing, shortly followed by the band cutting off when Lancar grabbed Clair's hand and got down on one knee, "Clair I don't want to be away from you again. I want to wake up every morning and see your smile."

He then pulled out a beautiful diamond engagement ring," Clair, will you marry me?"

There was a long pause as the words dawned on her and her heart beat faster. The questioned echoed in her ears and excitement slowly began its course through her veins. A large grin soon spread across her face as she threw her arms around him and shouted, "Yes! I will!"

There was applause and cheers everywhere in the auditorium as Lancar slid the ring on her finger and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. He wanted to give more than the chaste kiss, but Cherry Head, Cliff, and Mirage were still present and he wouldn't live it down. Farleen was in tears, happy ones of course, and had to quickly leave the room to get tissues, much to the students' relief. Her crying was worse than as Sophia's laugh. Nel was truly happy for her friends and hoped that they would remember to invite her to the wedding. But it wasn't long before Maria, Mirage, and Nel (and Cliff, twenty minutes later) wondered how Fayt was taking this. If he did happen to have a crush on Clair, then her engagement would probably crush him. Fayt was already gone when they looked for him. They hoped for his sake that he may have left _before_ the proposal. That way the news could be broken to him easier.

* * *

When Fayt was seen again, it was before lunch, right before the bell was to ring. He sat at the usual table all alone with only the bickering cafeteria ladies and janitors to disrupt the silence. His face featured sadness and concentration as he fought battles on his handheld game. It was Maria who had seen him and she was about to go up and talk to him, but the bell rang and the students that left class early started flooding in. She tried again to approach him but Mirage, who had arrived in time to see her, placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head, telling her that it was a little too soon to disturb him.

Nel and Albel were already approaching the table, but didn't talk to the depressed boy as they respected his desire for solitude. With down cast eyes, Maria reluctantly agreed and followed Mirage and her brother to the lunch line. When they obtained their lunches and finally took their seats near him, it was apparently too little space for him as he excused himself and left the cafeteria with his games.

Maria watched him leave with a sad expression, but didn't say a word. Mirage glanced back at the door where the blue haired boy had left and then faced the blue haired girl, "Eventually he's going to need someone to cheer him up and I think the best candidate for that is you Maria."

"Me?" she called in shock and confusion, "Why me?"

"Well as much as I doubt Fayt having a crush on Clair, _if_ he does have it, then he's going to need to move on now," Nel explained, still holding skepticism for what the others believed about Fayt, "And since you have a crush on him, you should take this chance to tell him so that he knows that there is someone who likes him."

"But…" Maria trailed off, unsure. But what about Sophia? Her muscles tensed as she remembered the brunette. She had almost forgotten about Sophia. How was she going to take the news that Fayt had a crush on someone else, but still went out with her anyway? Or maybe Sophia knew about it all along and was waiting for this moment to get him back.

Maria inwardly gasped as a revelation came to her. What if that was Fayt's secret? The secret that Sophia couldn't figure out! What if this whole time Sophia had been worrying about Fayt when his secret was that he didn't love her anymore and was trying to win the attentions of another woman? She should be furious with Fayt! But then…that was a little too far fetched. Fayt would never be so cruel, not even if he loved someone else. If anything…

"Sophia should be the one to talk to Fayt. They need to settle their differences before it leads to them breaking up and breaking Sophia's heart," Maria reported solemnly, a little broken herself on the inside from the unrequited love and worried about the possible heartbreak of her friend.

"Breaking up from what?" Cliff inquired in his usual clueless voice, well clueless in Maria's opinion, "You can't still believe those two are going out are you?"

"Who's still going out?" a feminine voice asked from behind, making Cliff clamp his mouth shut as he recognized the voice. Sophia had just returned from the competition and heard Cliff's comments. When no one answered her, she took her seat and then noticed the absence of one video game junkie, "Where's Fayt?"

"Well he's…" Mirage began, unsure of what to say. She glanced over at the others to get some help while making sure Cliff kept his mouth shut. Maria only shrugged and Albel was completely useless in the situation as he occupied himself with stacking plastic forks covered in ketchup into some object. He seemed to have a 'bloody theme' going on with his art today.

Suddenly Nel decided to save Mirage the trouble of explaining, "He wasn't feeling too well and left."

"Oh? I wonder why he's not feeling well," the young actress commented as Maria felt guilty. Why won't anyone tell her the truth? Sophia had every right to know and it would be worse if she found out another way.

"He's depressed because Lancar proposed to Clair and we think Fayt may have had a crush on her!" the blue haired girl blurted out without warning. Cliff slapped his hand to his forehead and Mirage sighed at her lack of subtlety. Sophia's eyes widened before a grin appeared.

"He proposed? That's so sweet! I was wondering when he was…wait…" the brunette paused when the second part clicked, "Fayt has a crush on Miss Clair?"

Maria nodded gravely and Nel gave both girls a sympathetic look. But what came next was something that no one expected, or thought possible. Sophia laughed. Not her usual squeaky laugh that everyone liked to make fun of, but a hysterical, normal sounding laugh that brought incredulous looks her way. What was so funny about Fayt getting rejected? Suddenly Albel's fork structure collapsed and his crimson eyes turned to glare at the noisy girl as if accusing her for its fall.

"Silence fruit, you're giving me a headache," he growled threateningly, making her stop instantly.

"Sorry," she squeaked in apology. Funny how her normal sounding laugh was what was giving him a headache instead of her usual one.

"What on Elicoor is so funny?" Nel inquired as she flicked a packet of ketchup in Albel's direction to get him to keep quiet. It appeared that as long as he was entertained with something, he could forget his anger issue with his father.

"It's just the thought of Fayt having a crush on a real woman instead of a game character…well he does have a crush on a real one but…" Sophia couldn't really explain while she was still trying to contain her chuckling. She wiped a tear from her eye and took a calming breath before trying again, "Well what I should say is that you are all wrong. Fayt doesn't have a crush on Miss Clair."

"Really now? Then what is making him so upset then?" Cliff wondered with his now trademark confused face.

"You should ask him yourself if you're really concerned." Was all Sophia could offer. There was still one more thing Maria wasn't sure about and thought back to what she had speculated earlier. Did Sophia _really_ know what was going on?

"But what about that secret Fayt was keeping from you? Don't you think it could be related?"

Cliff and Mirage quickly turned to Sophia after Maria's question. They remembered something about a secret back when Luther went to her house. Did she get her information from the gang leader?

"Yeah it's related and I already know what it is. It was as easy as going up to Miss Clair and asking her. Honestly I don't know why Fayt wouldn't tell me," she scoffed before muttering to herself, "I mean true it's not legal, but it's not that bad either. …Not like he murdered someone…that boy…"

Sophia finally appeared to be angry after her mumblings sbout Fayt's secret, but it quickly passed as Cliff, not being able to help himself, toppled Albel's rebuilt fork tower.

"Damned maggot!" he hollered as Nel and Cliff snickered. The rest of the lunch period continued on at normal pace after Albel took his revenge on Cliff by slipping a ketchup packet under the prankster's foot as he was heading to the trash can to throw away some empty potato chip packets. Cliff fell over and in a double attack, some of the condiment escaped from the plastic and hit Nel in the forehead when Albel moved out of its path. True she wasn't really an intended target, but it served her right when she laughed earlier…even if he had liked her laugh.

When the bell rang and everyone slowly filtered out of the cafeteria and back to their classes. Cliff, Mirage, Albel, and Nel had to hurry to get to their class, quickly leaving Sophia and Maria alone. They walked together in silence as Maria contemplated Fayt and Sophia amused herself with the thoughts of Fayt throwing away his beloved KOS-MOS and chaos action figures in order to prove to his crush that he loved her and not the game. …Actually Sophia thought that chaos and KOS-MOS would make a cute pairing despite KOS-MOS being an android. Maybe if her imagination came true, she could convince Fayt to give her the action figures…

Soon the girls came to the hallway where they would have to split up since they had separate classes, but then Sophia remembered something important that she had to tell, "Oh, Maria?"

"Yeah?" the blue haired girl inquired as she turned to glance at her friend.

"I overheard what you said to everybody earlier in the lunchroom," she replied, earning a confused look from Maria. She couldn't remember what she had said and wondered what the brunette wanted to say.

"I don't know where you got such a silly idea," Sophia said with a grin, "but Fayt and I are not going out. In fact it's downright creepy imagining me kissing him. He's like my baby brother. …Uh, not by age, I mean he acts like a baby."

Stunned, Maria completely faced her, dropping her stuff in the process, "What?"

"How long did you think that anyway?" Sophia wondered before walking off in the direction of her classroom, "Anyway, you really should go see Fayt sometime. He needs another gamer to help him in his pathetic time of need."

"But what about…?" Maria started quietly but then cut off when she realized Sophia was too far away to hear her.

* * *

Maria was so confused! She couldn't figure out what was going on anymore. Who did Fayt like if not Clair or Sophia? Was it possible that he liked _her_? Was that what Sophia was trying to tell her? When she smashed the music box gift, she thought that someone was playing a cruel joke on her or was trying to be nice and let her think that it was from Fayt. Could it really be that he sent it to her and was her secret admirer? Had she tortured herself this whole time thinking she didn't have a chance with Fayt when she actually did?

But some things didn't add up. She clearly saw Fayt and Sophia kissing and according to her brown haired friend, that was something creepy for her. Could Sophia have been toying with her? Plus if Fayt really was her secret admirer and Sophia really felt no romantic love for him, then why hadn't she set them up when she knew about Maria's crush on him? And Sophia never once told her to go tell Fayt how she felt. She always said that to all girls who told her their crushes.

It was all so confusing and she was tired of guessing. That speech Steeg gave to Leiber was true: to assume makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'. Maria had been given sound advice again and again from Albel, Mirage, and Sophia and that was to go talk to Fayt. It was the only way to find out the truth. But what if it was still a big misunderstanding and Fayt didn't like her? Then again with all the misunderstandings that had been happening, she really shouldn't let her fear of rejection stop her now. She needed to talk to Fayt!

But when she found Fayt again after 6th period, lying in a near fetal position in the middle of a hallway while playing his games, she felt her heart break at the sight. He really _was_ depressed. If it wasn't because of romance problems, then what had done this to him? Maybe she could postpone her problems and needs for now and cheer him up instead. It would be easier to ask her question when he was smiling again. She _needed_ his smile more than the truth. Before she could take another step toward him, the door to the home economics room opened in front of her and Sophia came out with a tray holding a cup of tea.

"Fayt," Sophia called sweetly while prodding him with her foot, "Why don't you take a break and have some nice tea? I made Lady Grey tea, your favorite."

Apparently neither noticed Maria, allowing her to silently back away until she was hiding behind a nearby corner. She didn't feel brave enough to talk to Fayt with Sophia around and quietly watched them. The blue haired boy glanced back at Sophia with a miserable expression and then turned back to his game.

"I like Earl Grey, not Lady Grey…" he mumbled in a quiet tone.

"No, you like Lady Grey," Sophia insisted with a tired sigh, "You're still upset that Cliff called you gay for liking Lady Grey, aren't you?"

Maria eye twitched slightly. Didn't Cliff previously mention that it was low to 'call a guy who's obviously straight, gay'? Perhaps this was something that Mirage should be informed about later. Besides, Cliff drank instant coffee, the kind that old aristocratic ladies drank when in gossiping circles, so what did that make him?

"…Actually he called me metro sexual," Fayt replied with no change in emotion. The brunette smiled gently and tried again to get him to get off the floor.

"Come on Fayt, just get up, have some tea, and tell me what's the matter."

This time his response was to crawl across the floor and hide under a bench. He then resumed his game after he curled back into the fetal position. It resulted in angering Sophia as she tried to kick the bench, but she ended up hurting her foot.

"Fayt Leingod! Come out here right now and drink your damn tea!" she yelled and then squeaked as she realized what she had said, "Look what you made me say! Now I'm talking like that Cid Highwind character off of that Final Fantasy game…"

"…No you're not. He says 'drink your _goddamn_ tea'," he responded from the dark shadows under the bench. Sophia never knew how spacious it was under those benches since it was able to completely hide a teenage boy. She wondered if Fayt made it his secret hideout and kept a supply of games down there when he didn't feel like showing up to class.

"But still! You made me say a bad word! Now you owe me an explanation," she protested with a stamp of the foot that hadn't kicked the bench.

"Fine…" He sighed in annoyance and reluctantly crawled out of hiding. At this point Maria decided that she had intruded enough and left. Sophia was better suited in cheering Fayt up. Maria knew when she was not needed.

Once the two childhood friends were seated on top of the bench, Fayt finally grabbed the tea from the tray and took a sip. Now that the cup was gone, Sophia could put the tray down and laid it against the arm of her seat. He remained silent for the next few minutes either trying to squash down his disappointment so he could explain or find the right words to start explaining. Sophia stayed as patient as she could as she waited and easily kept her fury in check.

But once it seemed that Fayt was having a hard time piecing together what he needed to tell her, she decided to help him out by saying, "I already know about your secret. Miss Clair told me when I was warning her about someone else who wanted to find out about the secret."

She purposely left out 'who' had wanted to find the information since Fayt had been rather cautious of Luther since he recovered. The blue haired boy grinned slightly and shook his head.

"And she said that she wouldn't tell anyone… Then again, I somehow knew you were going to find out before it was okay. Did you even understand?" he wondered as his eyes traveled to look at her for the first time since school began that morning.

"Well, truthfully…no. You stole a top secret game engine that was not supposed to be released to the public in order to make a game you've dreamed up and was hoping to get Lancar to support you through his girlfriend. What I don't understand is how would my knowing this put me in danger?" Sophia replied as she pieced the tiny bit of information together to try to understand, "I really don't see where the scandal is either."

"They have a rival game company," he started, slowly gaining back his energy that was locked by the depression, "…and if I was caught, then they would assume that I was working for them and Lancar would be fired for helping me. As for the danger and a larger detail of the scandal, they had a certain code embedded in the engine. The code activated missiles and other various types of weapons for war and if it got out into the wrong hands, then there would be total chaos. That's why it was not released to the public."

"Oh Fayt…" Sophia murmured with worry as the situation he put himself in really began taking a serious turn in her mind.

"Of course I already deleted the code when I got the copy of the game engine, but that fact alone wouldn't ease the company's minds. Plus, they wouldn't like someone knowing about it and wouldn't hesitate to silence me."

She grabbed onto his arm before he could say any more, "Why on Elicoor would you risk your life for a stupid game? Couldn't you wait until you get hired by the company?"

"That's what you don't understand Sophia!" Fayt shouted as he pulled out of her grasp, "They had the best engine on the planet and there was no guarantee that they would like me enough to take me in. And everyone knows that when you have a unique idea, you should get it out before someone else takes the chance for you!"

He paused at the frightened and tearful look on her face and then sighed, "That's why I went to Clair for help. I knew that she still had ties to Lancar and knew that he would help me out. Turned out that the company was going to destroy the code since they were told by the queen that the weapons were no longer necessary. And to celebrate the destruction of the code, they were going to release the new game engine to the outside programmers."

"So then everything is okay? Why are you so upset?" Sophia inquired with some confusion still present.

"Well I had to wait until it was publicly announced before I could present my game and it was only today that I found that the rival,companies have merged together… Lancar was the one who tried to show my game to the directors, but they flat out refused it. I put my heart and soul into that game and they hated it…" Fayt trailed off as his grief caught up to him again.

"Oh now I get it!" the brunette cried happily, sounding much like Cliff when he finally found out why it was not wise to make jokes about Maria during her time of the month.

"…Your cheerful revelation…not helping…" he muttered brokenly as he drew up his knees.

"No, I mean that I get what Lancar had told me to tell you. I had no clue what he was talking about until you told me what was going on," Sophia quickly explained and then relayed the message, "He told me to tell you that 'The director actually did love the idea, but he didn't accept it because he couldn't claim it as his own idea' and then he mentioned that he took the liberty to copyrighting the idea in your name before the presentation."

Fayt lifted his head from his knees and glanced at her with shock, "So they liked it…?"

"Yeah that's what Lancar told me before he left," she confirmed with a grin. She was glad to see the happiness returning to his eyes. Fayt then stood up and grabbed Sophia's hands to pull her up before he proceeded to dance around in the hallway out of joy. He occasionally shouted 'They like it!' as Sophia giggled with tiny squeaks.

"Oh Sophia! This makes me feel so much better! Now that I know the idea is good, I can try to make my own game engine, re-write my game, and sell it on my own. It'll take a while but-"

"Or you could just apply for a job at that company so that they could tie your name to the game and everyone will be happy," Sophia said flatly, interrupting his scheming. Fayt stopped dancing and chuckled nervously.

"Or I could do that. It would get the game published quicker," he conceded as he scratched his head in an embarrassed fashion. Sophia smiled as she brought her hands together, symbolizing that it was another chapter finished in the Book of Life.

"Well, now that that's over, I think it's time for you to do one more thing…" she said mysteriously, instantly draining all excitement from Fayt. He knew that tone meant that what she was going to suggest was not going to be too good for him.

"And what might that be?" he inquired stiffly as he worried over what the sometimes demented actress/matchmaker could be up to.

"Remember that secret we have been keeping for over 6 years?" she asked back in a sweet voice.

"You mean that secret that I hope you'll never mention in public?" he retorted with a blanched face.

"Yup, that one. It's high time for you to tell you-know-who about it." She smirked when he began backing away in classic fear.

"No, no, no, no, no, no! It is _not _time to reveal that yet. I mean I just finally…" he tried to excuse himself from doing the task she wanted him to do and glanced off into space as he tried thinking of even more excuses.

"Fayt," Sophia started as she advanced toward him, "I'm about to do something that I hope to _never_ do again. I'm about to reveal a secret someone else has in four little words: the feeling is mutual."

That caught his attention as he spun around to face her with a stunned expression. Sophia took the moment to wonder if he was stunned by the message or the fact that she spilt a secret.

"Really?" Since when?" he inquired, somehow having a hard time in believing her.

"Oh it's been for a while. I'm guessing you haven't noticed because of that trouble you were going through. Then again, it should have been pretty obvious lately. Now carpe diem!" She then grabbed Fayt by the arm and pulled him in front of her before she pushed him in the right direction, "Go!"

He stumbled a few steps before he righted himself and walked on with a smile on his face. Sophia watched him go with pride and wiped away fake tears as she muttered 'They grow up so fast'. Once Fayt was gone and it was all clear, she turned around to take care of one more task for the day.

"Hi Lou!" she called to the gang member who was casually leaning against a wall. He was partially hidden by the lockers next to him and jumped in surprise that he was even discovered. He recovered by righting himself and headed towards her with his arms crossed so that he would appear to be bored.

"Well I guess now we know what Fayt has been up to, huh?" she continued, ignoring his questioning look.

"Why did you do that?" he eventually asked after some silence.

Sophia's smile disappeared as she gazed into his eyes, "What?"

"You just sent him to her. I thought you loved him…" His eyes held her gaze, making her feel like they were having a stare off. She refused to be defeated so easily.

"Just as I was telling Maria, I love him like he was my brother. He's family to me," she replied, indicating that she knew that he was following her all day.

"But your diary-"

"That diary you have was something I wrote 8 years ago when I was little. I had forgotten how old that was until you stole it. Anyway, nearly everything in there is old news and my views are different," she responded. She had good handwriting and grammar, even at the age of nine, so it was no shock that Luther would think that the diary was recent because the entries were similar to what an adult would write.

He didn't look anymore satisfied with her explanations as he held out her pink book that he had been keeping in his pocket and gave it back to her. But then there was one more question he had to voice in a quiet tone, "If Fayt is like family to you, then what does that make us?"

She paused to think it over. She would like to consider herself his girlfriend, but he has no clue what love and romance is and how to know _what_ it is. In fact she couldn't be certain herself if he even had any special feelings for her, "I would like to think that we are together, but we're so far apart right now it's not even funny. You don't understand me or my feelings for you and I can't tell you what you're supposed to be feeling or what you might be feeling. If you want to know, then I'm afraid you're going to have to find out by yourself."

"Together?" he thinly echoed, "Why do you want to be with me?"

"Many reasons you wouldn't understand. It's something I know you will hate about love because it involves a lot of illogical thinking," she answered with a smirk.

"Hmph, doesn't sound worth it," he muttered as he turned, his back facing her.

"Oh but it is in the end. Once you fall in love, there is no escaping it. You'd even find yourself desperate for it at times."

He didn't even have the chance to notice her moving into his personal space before he felt her slender frame against his back and her small hands resting on his chest in a gentle hug. He didn't move and tried hard not to react so that he could prove that she was not scaring or intimidating him. However, nothing prepared him for the feel of her warm breath against his ear when she leaned up and whispered, "I hope you will someday figure it out, even if you don't fall for me. I just want you to be happy and free from suffering."

If Luther had a picture of himself at that moment, he would find that his eyes were wide open and he had the look of a cornered mouse. He was grateful that Sophia couldn't see his face too well otherwise she would think that he was afraid. …Then again maybe he _was_. When she pulled away, he released the breath he had not been aware he was holding and tried to ignore the gentle giggle coming from the girl behind him.

"Oh and if you intend to continue stalking me, then I will be in chemistry next period and then in P.E. at the end of the day. Just to make it easier for you." Sophia then moved closer to him again to quickly kiss him on the cheek before she ran off in the direction of her class while shouting, "Bye Lou! Love you!"

If she had turned back to look at him, she would have noticed the tint of red all over his face when he turned back to look at her. Then again, she didn't need to see it because she _knew_ it was there.

* * *

Roger paced back and forth in front of Peppita's locker as he waited for her to arrive. After Melt's lesson, he knew how to approach the subject and then smoothly ask her out, but he was also taught how to act if she refused him. He didn't like the thought of rejection. It would make Lucien laugh at him _and _it would crush Roger's little heart. The more he thought about it, the more he thought that this was a bad idea. Peppita was too casual around him, giving no proof that she liked him. If he became enough of a friend to her, then that could have been the reason she had used him as an excuse with Lucien. But then why call him 'cute'?

It was five minutes after the final bell and the halls were cleared because the students didn't like to linger at the school longer than what was required. It was the perfect quiet setting that Melt had suggested. Peppita's foot steps were soon heard and then she was visible to the Menodix. She didn't notice him as she was busy putting on her sweater coat over her long sleeved shirt. She was at the same time busy concentrating on keeping a bag of chips clutched firmly in her teeth and trying not to get drool over it. It was then that the Menodix began panicking.

What was he doing? This wasn't going to work! He couldn't even remember what he was supposed to say! Without even thinking, he opened the nearest locker and jumped in so that she wouldn't see him. Unfortunately, he failed to notice that he was hiding in Peppita's locker. When the young actress opened the door, she found him curled into a ball with his hands clutching his soft tail.

"Roger? What are you doing in my locker?" she asked with no annoyance or anger present in her voice. His eyes were wide when he glanced up at her and he gripped his tail even tighter as his ears lowered in fear. He looked like an animal who was about to become road kill.

"Uh…" He wanted to say a greeting at least, but he couldn't think of the right word. He couldn't even think to say 'Hi'.

Suddenly Peppita gasped in realization and then kneeled down to lean closer to him. She then started whispering as if she was worried someone would overhear them, "Are you hiding from Fluffy?"

"Wha?" Of all things a girl could guess about a boy hiding in her locker, that was not one of them.

"Yeah, Fluffy," she confirmed, getting a little louder, "Since you've upset Prissy, I thought Fluffy might be after you too because they are such good friends."

Roger almost fell over. She actually believed in that creature of Cliff's drunken imagination? Then again, there _had_ been reports of Fluffy sightings, but how plausible is a dimension traveling fluff ball with claws, razor sharp teeth, and an appetite for girls' pig tails and braids?

"Well actually I… wanted to talk to you about something…and I got scared and tried to hide from you," he slowly admitted. One other thing Melt had taught him from the large books of romantic doom was to be honest and not to hide behind a macho exterior. Roger couldn't believe that girls didn't like the 'macho man Roge' but didn't want to risk losing Peppita and decided to listen.

"Really?" She sounded surprised, but then quickly hid it by standing up and helping the Menodix out of her locker, "What did you want to talk about…oh, you must have heard about what I said to Lucien this morning."

He watched her as she wondered how other people found out about it. She didn't once think that there could have been other people around or that Lucien could have told everyone.

"Okay, I should start by telling you the truth," she began as Roger's ears perked up and his tail swished in interest, "Lucien asked me out, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings by refusing him and I didn't want to go out with him either. So I told him that I was going out with you, but I didn't know that he didn't like you and would get upset by it."

His tail and ears drooped after her story. It was just an excuse… "So there wasn't any other reason that you mentioned me?"

She didn't seem to catch on to his disappointment or even noticed that he looked depressed as she threw her bag of chips into the backpack she retrieved from her locker, "You were such a good friend to me that I didn't think you would mind if I mentioned you as long as it got me out of sticky situations."

"Oh…" he replied as he glanced away. This time Peppita noticed his demeanor and was worried she said something wrong.

"You're…not mad at me are you? I'm sorry I mentioned you. I didn't know you would take offense to it!" She pleaded for his forgiveness, still not realizing the real reason for his sad face.

"Actually, I was excited when I heard it," he admitted with a depressed smile, "To tell you the truth, I really, _really_ like you Peppita and I've been trying to ask you out for a long time, but you never seem to notice me."

"Well you are kinda short…" she said in response to his comment about not being noticed, hoping to cheer him up a little. Roger seemed to have shrunk more from the put down she unwittingly gave him. But after a short awkward silence, the rest of the stuff registered in her brain, "Wow, I didn't know you felt this way… I don't know what to say."

"Yeah, well…don't worry about it. I won't bother ya anymore," he said dejectedly as he started walking off. Her words sounded even more like rejection and he couldn't take much more of it. Peppita only watched him, confused at what action to take or how to clear up the misunderstanding. Despite the apparent crush he had on her, she didn't mind getting to know him in case she might get a crush on him too.

"Wait Roger!" she called before trying to catch up to him. He did stop, but didn't face her as his eyes remained glued to the ground.

"You know… we can still go out. I mean it wouldn't hurt to make the rumor true and… I would like to get to know you better. I feel like I don't know enough about you," she tried explaining, hoping that she wouldn't say the wrong thing and upset him. Slowly Roger began taking in her words and realized that all hope wasn't lost. He turned to face her with an excited smile.

"Really?" he cried, earning a nod from the girl. He then grabbed her hands in his and shouted, "I promise to take you to the best restaurant or café or whatever you like and I will do everything to make sure you're having a great time!"

"Whoa slow down there!" she giggled, not minding the fact that she had to bend down slightly to compensate for Roger's height, "Let's start off small, like going on a walk or something. That way we can talk more and won't have to spend too much money."

"Okay!" He was about to move in for a hug, but she caught on in time to stop him. She placed a hand on his head to keep him at arm's length.

"But if we are going to go out, there will have to be some rules," she announced sternly, "No touching me in the bad places. Only arms, hands, and upper back are allowed."

"What about hugs?" he wondered curiously, still holding his arms up for a hug.

She took a moment to think about it and then decided to let him go, "Well considering you're half my height, I guess hugs are allowed as long as your arms and hands are around my middle back…no lower!"

He eagerly took the invitation and gave her what could have been a bone crushing hug had he been taller. But, Peppita decided, Roger's size was just fine for her. Someday he would get taller, but until then it wasn't so bad. He was like the opposite of Ursus and she wouldn't dare reject Ursus for his size. She then carefully brought her hands to his shoulders to return the hug with a gentle smile on her face.

* * *

All throughout 8th period in P.E., Fayt regaled everyone by telling them about his game and why he was hanging around Clair so much. Sophia did eventually inform him that nearly everyone thought that he was having an affair with the teacher's aide, earning almost the exact same reaction Sophia gave when she had heard it. He even said similar words to hers like 'You guys thought I had a crush on a real woman…? Well I do, but…' in between his laughter. Needless to say that the reaction was cut off the same way as Albel was not in the mood for cheerful or happy people and promptly told him to be quiet.

Gym class passed quickly and soon everyone was getting ready to leave as they waited for the final bell. Maria was feeling drained and was relieved to hear that Mirage was offering rides back to Peterny so she didn't have to worry about riding the bus or walking home. After the bell rang, she followed closely behind Cliff and Mirage and was almost out the front door when she felt someone tugging at her arm and pulling her away from the door and her brother.

"I need to talk with you Maria," was all she heard through her numbed mind. The gender of the voice didn't register because she was so tired and stunned at the same time. She glanced at Cliff as she was being dragged away, wondering if he was going to stop whoever it was, but he only shrugged it off.

"We're not waiting long," he warned.

"If it takes too long, then I'll take her home," the voice offered before they turned a corner. When Maria was able to get a good look at the person, she almost fainted.

"F-Fayt?" Her voice was faint and she wasn't sure if he had heard her, but he did glance back at her.

"Hang on, I want to get to a place where we can talk privately," he explained as he quickened his strides. She blushed as she wondered if Fayt knew that he was holding her hand. It wasn't long before she felt that she couldn't keep up with his steps and tried to pull out of his grasp.

"Wait, can't we talk some other time? I'm really tired right now and I-" Maria stopped talking with a startled squeak as he stepped into her personal space.

"Then I'll carry you," he replied curtly before he turned to where his back was facing her and then grabbed one of her arms to place on his shoulder and pulled up her knee to his waist with his free hand before she had the chance to react. She blushed even more as he proceeded to give her a piggy back ride all the way to their destination.

The destination was a small carpeted room with two comfortable looking easy chairs. The walls were a soft white and the windows lightly accented the room with the waning sunlight that came through the mini blinds. Maria guessed that it was the waiting room for the nurse's office, but then again they were far from the biology hall where the nurse was located. Her second guess would be that it was the teacher's lounge, but she wasn't sure how Fayt got permission to go in there. It was certainly calm and quiet though.

Fayt gently set her down so she could sit at one of the chairs. The seats were a dark blue color and felt like the material surround them was velvet, or perhaps some other material. Both chairs were in the middle of the room. They were placed about 3 inches apart, but one of them was facing a wall while the other faced the windows. She decided to sit in the one facing the wall in case the sun started shining directly through the blinds. She had to ignore how close their legs were to touching when he occupied the remaining seat.

"Uh…what did you want to talk about?" she inquired nervously. Her hands responded to her mood as they wrung together and her fingers gripped each other tightly. It wasn't everyday that your secret crush wanted to talk to you in a private place. Maria didn't want to risk a permanent blush on her face and made her eyes stare at the wall before her.

"Well…uh…" he started, not sounding too confidant about what he wanted to say. He eventually sighed as his tone became more serious, "If I find out that Sophia set me up for this… …"

She blinked as she wondered what Sophia even had to do with them being here, but soon his hesitant silence died away as he finally said the words she never thought she'd hear…

"Maria, I have to tell this now. I love you and I have for a long time. I know this may ruin our friendship and stuff, but I want you to know this before something else too hectic comes into my life again." Fayt made the confession so calmly that she briefly thought that he wasn't telling the truth. But when she dared to glance at him, she could see that his hands were shaking and his eyes were downcast. And his cheeks were burning a red color as dark as Cliff's limbs after being beaten up by Mirage several times during a match.

Maria nearly muttered his name in shock, but then turned away from him again as the excitement and giddiness quickly faded away into melancholy. Could this have been a cruel joke that Sophia planned? She still hasn't forgotten the kiss those two shared and he _did_ mention something about Sophia before he said the words. Maria wouldn't put it past Sophia to tell Fayt and convince him to pull a prank on her just to make her look foolish. …Wait not even Sophia could be so mean, but then she couldn't really believe Fayt either.

"Is that so?" Maria said, straining to keep her voice calm to appear nonchalant. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Fayt's head shoot up to stare at her in disbelief.

"Y-you don't believe me?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore," she replied with a slight shake of her head, "Too many people warped the truth and now all I have been hearing are lies."

He stood up and crossed his arms as an angry look swept across his face. It almost reminded her of Luther, but she knew that Fayt wouldn't be so crazy as to pull out guns to get what he wanted and remained slightly relaxed.

"No, what you've been hearing are speculated rumors. I told you what has been happening with me, Clair, and Lancar. I seriously don't have a crush on Clair, I have one on _you_!" he explained as he moved to stand in front of her. She gasped a little from his loud declaration before her she balled her fists and slammed them against her thighs in frustration.

"It's not about them!" she cried as she finally glared up at him. Maria was in for another shock when he knelt down and placed his hands on top of hers.

"Then what is it? Tell me what's wrong or give me some test to prove that I love you!" he pleaded with a serious look in his eyes. She felt her heart pound at his forwardness, but was overall proud of herself for not blushing.

"It's not that simple… It's Sophia," she began, but then trailed off to see what reaction he would make to that.

"Sophia?" he repeated in a confused tone, "What does she have to do with anything?"

Maria couldn't look him in the eye as she softly admitted, "I saw you two kissing during school one day…"

She felt him slowly pull away, but refused to look at him to see what his expression was. It could have been shock or confusion. She was almost positive that it couldn't be the latter. After a minute, he seemed to have caught on to what she was talking about.

"Oh wait… This wouldn't happen to be during 4th period was it…well if it wasn't then you must have saw someone else and thought it was me or something," Fayt glanced at her and found that she was confused but still wary, "Uh yeah, you are talking about 4th…sorry you had to see that…"

"WHAT?" she snapped, completely outraged by his comment. If he wanted to prove his love for her, he just lost his chance. It wasn't right to tell a girl you loved her and admit to kissing another girl in hopes that the first girl wouldn't notice.

He chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head as he adjusted his legs under him, "That was the wrong thing to say…"

"No, you think?" she retorted dryly.

"Let me explain that," he said quickly before she decided to get up and storm off, "Sophia suckered me into helping her perform for that stupid play she was in today."

"A play?" Maria stopped to think. That could be it since she _did_ see them in the Theater Arts classroom.

"Yeah. She was playing the princess and made me play the prince so she could practice some kissing scene she was having a hard time on. …She didn't even tell me that I had to kiss her until the last minute," he muttered with disgust, "What you saw was a stage kiss. It wasn't real."

A stage kiss! Maria never felt so relieved. They were acting in a play…which makes sense since because Fayt sounded a little odd when she had heard him. Since she had been so upset at the thought of them kissing for real, she didn't reflect on the fact he sounded like he was (really poorly) reading something that was scripted.

"I'm guessing you didn't stick around long enough to see me getting kicked out because I made a gagging noise in her face from that 'kiss'," he smirked, feeling relieved that the misunderstanding was fixed.

"How on Elicoor did she get you to help her practice?" she inquired to make sure he wasn't just making up a story.

"She…" he paused with a little blush, giving Maria a good idea that it was either blackmail or Sophia stole his games again. Both excuses were believable.

He cleared his throat, "She stole my games and my handheld and hid them under her laundry pile and then told me that I had to help her in order to get them back."

"Wait, you knew where they were? What stopped you from getting them back?" There was no questioning Fayt's honesty now, she knew she could trust him. It made her feel bad that she had to doubt him in the first place. However, she was curious about this small detail and had to ask because chances were that his excuse was going to be funny. The blue haired boy's face reddened even more.

"It was under her bras! I couldn't touch those!" he squeaked with a tiny look of horror in his eyes.

"So? Are you afraid of bras or something?" she chuckled almost darkly.

"Not quite. I'm disgusted at the thought of touching Sophia's bras. She's like my little sister…my _evil_ little sister." Fayt's expression then melted away into a slightly lecherous look, "But if they were _your _bras…shutting up…"

He decided to not finish his sentence in fear of not only scaring away the girl he happened to like, but also in fear of the chances of Sophia hiding somewhere in the room ready to smack him upside the head and call him a pervert. It took Maria a second to catch on to what he was about to imply and finally started blushing herself. She decided not to make him finish the sentence because while she wouldn't be offended by what he would say, she would end up blushing for the rest of the day as new mental images plagued her mind. Dirty mental images…

"Um so…" Maria glanced back at Fayt when he tried to get her attention. He was staring at her intently as he leaned forward to rest his hands on her kneecaps, "Do you believe me now?"

She nodded yes, but then realized that it was now her turn. He wanted an answer. True he didn't really ask a question before, but when a guy tells a girl his feelings, he expected some reply to let him know if they feel the same or not.

"How long?" The words left her mouth before she even realized she had opened it. It wasn't what he wanted to hear, but she was curious about something.

"How long what?" he inquired, unsure of her question.

"How long have you had a crush on me?" she explained, earning a shy grin from the boy in front of her.

"About six years. Sophia knew it the day it happened and promised to keep it a high priority secret. That's why she hasn't interfered and tired setting us up before." Fayt freely offered the information, knowing that Sophia was going to come up in the subject again. After all, she _was_ the notorious matchmaker of the school. It would almost be apocalyptic if she didn't have anything to do with his relationship (or anyone's relationship for that matter).

"Six years?" she called out in mild surprise, "Why did you wait so long to tell me?"

Fayt stood up and shuffled a foot on the ground, "Well…I was afraid to tell you. Ever since I've known you, you only wanted friends and I didn't want to ruin the chances of being your friend if things didn't work out between us."

"So then why are you telling me now? Do you really think it's different now than it was six years ago?" Maria asked, temporarily ignoring the fact that her crush on him started only months ago. Perhaps this _was_ a good time to confess.

"…Sophia told me to tell you after hinting that you like me back… Is it true that you like me? Or did Sophia just trick me into admitting my feelings for you?" Fayt wondered with a mix of scorn and embarrassment in his tone. Maria decided that it wouldn't hurt to tell him the truth now, after all, the fear of rejection was gone.

"I do like you, but I'm not so sure if I can respect someone who takes the coward's way out and confesses their feelings _after_ someone else's secret is spilt," she admitted before she stood up to end the unease of having him tower over her. Maria hid a private grin as he slumped over from her words. She wasn't really going to let that end her respect for him since she probably would have done the same. She just wanted to pull his leg for revenge for all the trauma that he and his 'little sister' had caused her.

"I did try to tell you on my own before, but then the stuff with the game company came up and I had to quit before I accidentally got you involved." He noticed her confused and curious look and then explained, "I was your secret admirer. I was the one who gave you those flowers and that music box."

"You were?" Maria said in shock. But if he was the secret admirer, then how did Sophia have such a hard time finding him? "…But Sophia did that investigation, how did she not know it was you?"

"She knew it was me the entire time, but she had to figure out who gave you the other present. You see, I told Sophia that I wanted to tell you on my own and asked her not to interfere. And for six years, she put up an act every time my secret was threatened to be revealed. She had been acting the entire time she was investigating the presents I gave you."

She blinked as the new information settled in. It explained everything. Why Sophia never teased her, why she never told her to confess her feelings to Fayt, and why she was having such an unusually hard time trying to crack a romance mystery. Cliff later revealed how he had asked Sophia if Fayt had given her the music box. Maria figured at the time that Sophia had lied…or rather 'acted' through that as well.

"I see…" Maria numbly replied as she wondered what would happen next. This time, if Fayt asked her out, her answer would be yes for the first time ever. She never agreed to go out with anyone else before. And then…they would most likely become an official couple. However, if she said yes now, this would all be in Sophia's favor. After all, there was no denying that she didn't set this up.

Frankly, Maria did love Sophia because she had been her best friend since elementary school, but the last thing Maria wanted was to have her romance start because of Sophia's scheming. It was time for her to pull a little acting stunt of her own…

"_Sorry Fayt, but you're going to have to wait a little longer,"_ she thought wistfully before saying out loud, "I don't know what to say… I'm not too sure about this at all. I need to think this over for a while. Is that okay?"

She masked her expression when she saw him look downtrodden. It had to be done this way, Sophia needed a little shock to her system to find that her plan failed. Fayt did retain a little hope in the fact that Maria didn't really say 'no' and smiled a bit.

"Sure," he replied gently, "Take as long as you need."

Maria smiled too and muttered a 'thanks' before she tried to leave. She didn't catch the look he was giving her until it was too late. Just before she reached the door one of his hands were placed on her shoulder to turn her around while the other wrapped around her waist.

"I need to do one more thing before you go," he said evenly as the look in his eyes intensified.

"Wh-what's that?" she asked nervously from both the look and how close their bodies were.

"I vowed that I was not leaving this room until I at least kiss you once," he replied in a deeper voice.

Maria's eyes widened as Fayt came closer. His warm lips collided with hers, sending electric shocks through her body. She didn't resist at all, even when he prodded her to open her mouth to take the kiss further. It wasn't long before she relaxed completely and responded to the kiss while wrapping her arms around his neck. It felt so right being in his arms. The feeling of being warm and safe… she wished this moment would last forever. Of course nothing lasts forever, for instance, the ability to hold their breaths, so they had to break apart eventually. Her heart was pounding against her chest and she could feel his pounding with the same intensity since they were still pressed together.

He only pulled away a small distance with the tip of his nose touching hers. They shared the air between them as they both tried to catch their breaths.

"I think Cliff and Mirage are already gone." He announced in a quiet tone as he appeared to be fighting over the urge to kiss her again, "I promised that I would take you home, but Sophia is the only one with a car so I'm going to have to call her to pick us up."

She didn't say anything as he shifted slightly to pull a cell phone from his back pocket. They didn't move apart and their arms (minus the arm Fayt was using to use the phone) were still wrapped around the other. Just as Sophia's voice was heard on the receiver, something inside Maria snapped. The blue haired girl suddenly pulled Fayt back in for another kiss before she knew what she was doing. Fayt hadn't even had the chance to talk to Sophia and didn't really care at the moment as he allowed the phone to drop from his hand in order to eagerly respond to the kiss.

"…_Hello? Fayt? Is that you? …Are you okay over there?"_ Sophia's concerned voice rang out, but it was ignored by the two. Before Maria's mind was completely lost to the kiss, she briefly wondered who exactly won this time? Sophia? Or Fayt?

* * *

Out near the Aquarian Greeton border, past the Shrine of Kaddan, there was an enormous cave carved into the mountainside. The outside looked horrifying to the average person as some of the jagged rocks resembled sharp teeth and there were two other openings above the main entrance that resembled eyes. For some reason, there was a crimson colored fire in each of the 'eye holes', making one wonder if there were inhabitants in the cave. No human was brave…or stupid enough to go investigate the inside, leaving them unaware that one of the most powerful demons resided inside.

Romero, king of the undead, sat on his stone throne as his minions scurried around to accomplish his orders. His ire grew by the day as he awaited the report of one particular minion. A few months ago, there had been intruders on his land and while he did know who they were, he did not know why they were there nor could he remember why he had simply let them go. Apparently the intruders left with something of his from his secret treasury, but he could not exact revenge until he knew what they took or if they took anything at all.

Across the main chamber, a group of demon minions were piled on top of each other in order to reach a nasty cobweb that had formed in a crevice in the wall. Since they were created short and rather bottom heavy, they eventually toppled over, leaving Romero to groan and rub his hands on the fine pale skin before his temple. His headache was growing worse, like his ire, as the creatures began squabbling about who was to blame for the accident. It was bliss when the sound of them suddenly died away when the head minion finally returned from his investigation.

Fangs gleamed in the crimson firelight as Romero's identically crimson eyes almost glowed, "Have you found what they have stolen from me, Kazu?"

"Yes sire, they have merely reclaimed their weapons they have left here a decade ago," the mid sized, bronze skinned creature replied with a bow. His king's face contorted to a delicate frown that make him look all the more sinister and yet aristocratically elegant.

"The Crimson Scourge and the Blades of Ryusen are my property, not theirs. They have abandoned them and I have claimed them. What they have done is steal my property. The punishment for this unforgivable act is death," Romero decreed in a dark tone. Normally the minions would cheer, but they remained silent and confused. Kazu cleared his throat when the king of the undead began wondering about the quiet.

"…Sire, have you forgotten that one of the intruders was Glou Nox?" he questioned carefully, not wanting to bring his lord's wrath upon himself.

"Of course I remember that one of the intruders was that wretched man! …That whipped cream pie mess is still on the walls of my bedroom," he glowered before wondering, "Why do you ask?"

"Well…" the minion paused with lingering disbelief that Romero had obviously forgotten a small detail, "You can't kill Glou because he's married to your daughter. Ipiria might be cross if we disposed of him and his friend."

"Married! …What was she thinking when she married a _human_?" he snarled as he remembered that the annoyance had been his son-in-law for about 21 years.

"Maybe she got it from her mother…" Kazu muttered under his breath. He remembered that Ipiria's mother was once a lively demoness with constant happy thoughts and views of equality for all humans, demons, and humanoids. …And everyone remembered how Ipiria was completely embarrassed by her mother's nature.

"Dehlarenia?" Romero almost howled as if he were in pain, "Never speak of her in that tone!"

Kazu nodded with a bored expression as Romero began to moan about the loss of his wife. Dehlarenia had lost her life around 200 years after Ipiria's birth. Romero had loved her so much that he used his power as the King of the Undead bring back her soul to be reincarnated into a new body. Unfortunately, something went wrong and the soul traveled off on its own. It was later rumored to have been reborn as a human, but Romero refused to believe it. Still, he missed her greatly even though she was his exact opposite in every way. Dehlarenia was the embodiment of all that was sunshine and unicorns and he was the embodiment of all evil and death.

The king was currently strangling a nearby minion as he reached close to the end of his pitiful speech of how he swore he would find his wife and bring her back to the kingdom of the underworld. His top minion waited patiently for him to finish up and allowed him time to wipe the tears from his eyes. No wait they weren't 'tears', it was just his allergies… or so Romero claimed.

"So then the punishment for Glou Nox and Nevelle Zelpher, sire?" Kazu reminded, instantly bringing the ancient demon out of his passionate tirade.

"Ah yes," Romero continued as if he had never broken down and cried previously, "They have stolen something precious from me so I believe it is my right to take something that's precious from them."

"Like what?" the minion inquired with interest. Even if he acted a bit insane with every mention of his late wife, Romero was still evil to the very core and any decree or plan meant much fun for the other minions.

"Their children. I want their children," he ordered smoothly.

Kazu raised a non-existent eyebrow as he wondered exactly how far Romero was willing to go in revenge when it at least concerned the Nox child. Surely his majesty must know that that the child might be… "Do you want them dead or alive?"

"Whichever. It doesn't matter really," Romero replied calmly as he gestured to a wall that had random minion parts stuck to it, "After all, when I get them, I will have them mounted on my wall of DOOM."

This time the other creatures began cheering at the new plan as they knew that they were going to be the ones to hunt the 'children' down and maybe torture them along the way. Romero then began dishing orders to his stealthiest minions to track down the children of the intruders and find out when it would be the best time to claim them. In Romero knew that the children must still be attending some kind of school and there was usually some time when schools made them go to far off places to acquire some sort of education that apparently couldn't be taught at the school. What were those called? Field trips! A field trip would be the perfect time to collect his new wall ornaments…

"Sire? Do you think Ipiria would mind you taking the children? After all one of them-" Kazu tried to warn him of the fact that one of them would be Ipiria's child, but Romero cut him off with a glare.

"Why would she mind? They're just human children," the king growled, annoyed from being pulled out of his moment. Kazu tried again to inform his lord, but he was lost to his plotting and the gleeful cheers of the others. He knew that he would have to take desperate measures to get his attention again.

"Sire, I'm curious, if she were here, how would Dehlarenia like the new wall decorations?"

It was a cheap shot, but it did pull Romero out of his plotting …and straight back into the same speech he has given before.

"Dehlarenia!" he howled again in the same pained tone. Unfortunately this time he was too far gone to find an end to his speech and most of the minions had already left to do his bidding. The plan was in motion and it was too late to stop it. Kazu sighed before he decided to take the rest of the day off and nap in the sunlight. He left his lord curled into a ball on his throne and rocking back and forth as if in a trance.

* * *

Sorry to all the Fayt/Sophia, Fayt/Clair (if there were any), and Fayt/(whatever other character that could have been paired with him). I only chose Fayt/Maria mostly because they were the only ones left to pair together in my opinion. Sophia was too much like a sister to him and I also started falling for the Luphia pairing, leaving her out of the question. As for Clair, she was only there to thicken the plot so the Fayt pairing wouldn't be so easy to guess.

I suppose everyone can guess which pairing I'll be focusing on now so I should go now and start writing more! Till next chapter!


	18. Cursed Tuesday

I'm very sorry for the long wait. Every time I started writing this chapter something (usually bad) would happen. That's why I'm calling this the cursed chapter. This is because Tuesdays are the worst day of the week for me and over half of this chapter is set on a Tuesday. Now that I finally managed to finish it, I hope that the next chapter will get out faster and that things will get better. Oh yeah. I forgot. Everyone is going to hate me again…You'll see why.

I'm going to make some geographical changes for the purpose of this story. First, Airyglyph and Aquaria are separated by a body of water that's passable by ferry. Arias is now a port town and the Mosel desert is close to Airyglyph and Kirlsa instead of past Surferio. Also there is a new port town in Airyglyph that connects with Arias called Wayra.

Disclaimer: I do not own SO3 or any of its characters. I only own the plot of the story and a few made up towns. The rest belongs to the SquareEnix empire.

Chapter 18

It was a peaceful day in Arias as shoppers walked around the market place for any good deals or rare items that were imported from Airyglyph. The weather was cool, but not cold enough to deter the shoppers. Nel was among them as she went from shop to shop looking for anything of interest that Albel might like. She figured that she could find some Glyphian imported object as a birthday present for him, but the search was in vain. The Wicked One was very hard to shop for despite the fact that liked anything that was morbid and possibly covered in blood. Save for road kill, Nel couldn't find such items for sale in Aquios, Peterny, or Arias.

In fact Arias was her last hope, which was why she was here this fine Sunday afternoon. …Well that and the fact that Albel could stalk her in Aquios and find out in advance that not only had she not gotten him a present before now, but would also know what she was getting him (provided she found anything to buy). Nel was about ready to give up for the day and stop by Clair's house. She had promised her long time friend that she'd drop by and help her pick the cake and bridesmaid dresses for the wedding.

With a sigh, Nel turned around and headed for the residential district. It wasn't hard to find Clair's house because all one needed to do was follow the smoke. Every weekend Adray would either be burning trash or fallen tree limbs in the front yard or would be working on the monster truck he was building. Neither Clair nor Nel had any idea why he wanted a monster truck, but decided not to ask. His answer may have been too complicated for normal human minds and no one wanted Cliff or Mirage to explain it for them.

By the time she reached the end of the dock area where the smaller Glyphian markets were located, she thought she saw a flash of red and black. Over on the land were more shops that held more Aquarian items than Glyphian items and amidst the crowds, she caught sight of twin braids going into a cloth entrance of an unnamed place. Was that Albel? What was he doing in Arias? Nel knew that he sometimes disappeared on the weekends but she highly doubted he would come here to Arias.

It must have been someone else… But then what if Albel had followed her? Since she couldn't sense him, she really wouldn't know if she was being followed by him. She thought perhaps she should go in just to make sure. The red haired girl paused at the entrance. The building was large, but not too well kept. The roof had some holes, the majority of the windows were boarded up, and the wood looked rotted in areas. There was only one type of market that could exist in such a setting and that was a black market.

Then again, maybe that was the wrong assumption. The entrances to black markets were covered with dark or muted colored cloth. This one had white cloth. Nel steeled her nerves and checked to make sure she still had her Death Bringers on her before stepping in. There wasn't any sense of danger or people of bad character around as she traveled further inside. Apparently the owner of the building wanted a black market theme and that's why it looked the way it did. Albel was nowhere to be found, but then she wasn't searching too hard when she noticed the anime/manga booth near the center of the building.

To Nel, the booth seemed to glow in ethereal light, beckoning her to come and buy some imports of animated and drawn pleasure. Like a moth to a flame, she was drawn to the small booth, completely forgetting about why she was here and not trying to fight off the temptation. There were volumes and volumes of manga that had long since been out of print and classic anime series that were no longer sold in stores. It was anime heaven! She searched through the bookshelves and barely listened to the shopkeeper as he made suggestions on manga deals.

There were so many titles! _Suikoden__ III_, _Naruto_, _Card Captor Sakura_, and… She paused at the book with a dark gothic cover. This was a new one…or rather she hadn't heard of it until now. The title of the manga was _BLOOD SUCKER_ and the summaries seemed dark enough that even Albel would enjoy it. Nel smirked as the idea came to her. Why not help Albel get hooked into the world of anime and manga using the gothic genre he loved? It was the perfect gift idea! She bought the first three volumes and also purchased any volumes of _Slayers_ she could find for herself. Once the paper bag carrying her blessed graphic novels was in her arms, she happily walked off. But for some reason, she couldn't remember why she had come into the building in the first place…

"Cerise…" a low voice sounded behind her ear. Her body stiffened and she clutched the bag closer to her chest. That's right, she had come in to see if the person she saw was Albel. Mystery solved.

"What are you doing here?" she nearly yelled from shock as she twisted around to face him.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he retorted back as he eyed the bag in her arms. He seemed to be in a better mood today compared to how he'd been acting the past week. Nel guessed that Glou had told him some news that he didn't want to hear and now had accepted and forgotten it.

"…Shopping for some manga," she replied as if it was obvious. Albel didn't even give the appearance that he even knew what manga was as he lost interest in her purchases. It was then Nel noticed that he was hiding something himself.

"What did you buy? And why did you have to come here to buy it?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he grinned as he grabbed the object in the bag and stuffed it in his pocket. The item was small enough to be covered by his hand so she didn't even get a small glimpse of it, "If it's so strange for me to be here, then why are you here?"

"I'm here because I have a friend who lives here and I'm going to go visit her soon."

"If you say so cerise, don't forget we're supposed to train later tonight," he muttered as he passed her. Nel was torn between relief that he hadn't tried to find out what she bought and frustration that he just walked out without telling her what he had bought. She only hoped that what ever it was wasn't going to be something used against her in the future.

Nel decided not to ponder about Albel and headed directly for Clair's house. She was feeling much more relieved now that she had a gift for the Wicked One and wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. Outside in the front yard that belonged to her silver haired friend and her father, she could see what looked like a completed monster truck parked in the driveway that only needed a paint job. She also noticed, with interest, that Adray was sitting Indian style behind a long rag that had several shiny metal objects lined up on it. Normally such a scene wouldn't be so strange, but the fact that he was upside down with his head and neck supporting his muscled body was what made Nel walk over to him.

She knelt down and made sure her skirt wasn't going to show anything to the eccentric coach before inquiring, "Coach Adray, what are you doing?"

He only cracked open one eye, "I just finished building ThunderQuake and I'm thinking about why I have these extra pieces left over and what they could have been for."

The mere fact that he was trying to think was enough to drive Nel away in slight fear. She remembered one time when Mirage said that Cliff and Adray's thinking problems may have been the result of the lack of blood getting into their heads and that lessened her fears. Adray might have taken Mirage's joke too seriously and thought that sitting upside down would not only bring blood to his head, but also the solution to his little dilemma.

She got up and backed away slowly towards the front door of the house. Nel's mental state was being threatened the longer she stayed near Adray. She then shrugged off the previous conversation and knocked a few times on the door. She was shocked to hear Clair shouting from inside, "I _told_ you I'm not interested! Go away!"

"I'm not from the Rune Scouts and I'm not selling any cookies," Nel sighed tiredly. There was a pause before she heard the sound of several locks being released. Clair opened the door a crack to glare at whoever was outside.

"It's not the Rune Scouts I'm worried about," she replied in an icy tone.

"Then what…?" Nel's question was cut off by a raspy, deep, feminine voice from across the street.

"Clair honey, you know you can't resist me forever!"

Across the street was a heavy built woman that was only slightly smaller than Adray. The woman appeared to be a transsexual at first, but there was evidence that she was and had always had been a woman. Her face was clean of any facial hair and was thick with makeup. Her black hair was silky looking and rather disheveled like she had been rolling around somewhere. Her …dress, for the lack of a better word, was a deep dark blue to accent the thick makeup around her dark eyes.

"Look lady," Clair called commandingly as she opened the door a little more and showed off her engagement ring on her left hand, "I'm _engaged_ and no one is going to convince me to break up with my fiancé! Father! Do something!"

Her plea/demand went unnoticed to Thunder Fart as he had found that thinking hurt his brain (due more to the blood rush rather than the actual thinking itself) and had decided to curl up for a nice nap on the hood of his new ThunderQuake. Clair growled in frustration before she ordered Nel to get inside.

"So you say darling, but all girls learn quickly that men aren't always satisfying enough. When you finally realize that men are useless, you know where to find me!" the woman called in a tone she thought was seductive. Clair squeaked in horror when she noticed the woman advancing closer to her house and quickly slammed the door. Once all the locks were replaced she breathed a sigh of relief and faced a now mortified Nel. But before Clair could explain the situation, there was heavy pounding on the door.

"Remember to think of me next time you get lucky with that so called fiancé of yours!"

"I'm calling the Runologists!" Clair threatened with a growl, earning silence from the outside. When it seemed that the woman had given up, the girls wearily traveled over to the kitchen table to sit down and talk.

"What was _that_ all about?" Nel finally asked in an amused voice. Whoever that woman was didn't seem much like a threat, but more of an annoyance.

"She's the local …well how can I say this without sounding as thoughtless and mean as Cliff? …Oh what the hell, she's the local lesbian. She has around ten girlfriends in Airyglyph and Peterny and loves to get more girlfriends by going after the girls who seem 'hard to get'. Ever since word of my engagement to Lancar got out, she's been hitting on me and trying to get me to join her sick little 'harem'!"

"I have to say Clair, you two might just make a cute couple," the younger girl teased with a grin.

"It's not funny Nel! She has ruined four weddings because she convinced the grooms that their fiancés were sleeping with her…three of them wanted to see it and completely destroyed their chance to be with their girl …I'm lucky Lancar is in Aquios so she can't get to him," Clair sighed with slight relief.

"Well if that lady is bothering you so much, then why don't you go move in with Lancar? I mean, you guys are getting married so why not get used to living with him?"

"It's too soon to move out," Clair said as she glanced out the window where her father was snoring loudly on the monster truck, "Dad would be all by himself and I highly doubt he can handle being alone. All these years he had me to cook and clean for him and I was always there to spray him with a hose when he refused to take a bath."

There was no denying that Clair loved her father despite his many faults and Nel understood the reason why she wanted to stay. Clair was worried that Adray wouldn't be able to take care of himself and would be lonely when she moved in with Lancar. Adray was a strong man and had already gone through a brief midlife crisis consisting him of finding a suitable husband for Clair (luckily she was able to thwart every plan he had), but would he really be able to take care of himself?

"You could always visit him every now and then to make sure he's okay," Nel shrugged, not knowing what else to suggest that would help.

Clair slowly closed her eyes as the horror of her newest idea came to her, "I'm afraid it will have to come to this: I'm getting my revenge on dad and will go out to find him a wife!"

"Scary…" the red haired teen muttered as she realized how much Clair was like Adray, "Maybe you can convert that lady who's hitting on you to love your father. She actually seems like his type."

"…Shut up Nel," Clair growled when she realized that her friend was only teasing. There was a moment of silence before Nel started snickering, "What?"

"I still can't believe that the only other person to hit on you besides Lancar …is a woman." Nel then laughed when Clair glared at her even more for the comment.

"Shut it or else I'll show Albel that notebook of yours with the words 'Future Lady Nel Nox' on it," the golden eyed woman threatened, instantly earning silence.

"How did you kno- I mean-I never wrote something like that!"

* * *

The next day was a beautiful clear day with only a few high clouds. The frost from the grass began melting gradually as the sun slowly warmed the cold earth. All the students prepared themselves for another hectic day of school while the seniors prepared for the field trip that was coming tomorrow. Ever since Cliff had found out that the trip was going to be on a Tuesday, he kept telling everyone that he had a hunch something was going to go wrong. After all, the 'author' of Cliff's drunken imagination says that everything bad happens on a Tuesday. 

Naturally everyone ignored him, thinking him to be drunk.

"No seriously! That's why she always says 'Happy I hate Tuesday'," Cliff exclaimed from his desk during homeroom. Everyone gave him blank stares.

"Actually that's what _you_ say every Tuesday," Maria said with a bored expression on her face.

"Did you ever get the name of this so-called author?" Mirage inquired as she started to get concerned about her boyfriend's mental stability.

"Sure did! It's Anarchy Sky!" he declared proudly but then paused to think it over, "Er, no, it's Lorelai…Or was it darkxion, no, darklady…uh xion! darkladyxion! Wait…no, they're the author's friends…"

"…The author has _friends_?" Maria wondered incredulously. Either Cliff's intoxicated mind can really see into different dimensions or he had such a great imagination that she needed to abuse it for money.

"Duh! What, did you think that she was a loner or something?" Cliff retorted, earning very worried looks from his friends, "Though I got to wonder about that Pudding Treat with Tentacles…"

Everyone remained silent and tried not to think about it.

Sophia, Fayt, and Nel were in the middle of a sacred trading session of manga and games. Nel traded the first five volumes of _Rurouni__ Kenshin_ for the first five volumes of Sophia's _Chobits_. Sophia had constantly been telling her to give the series a try and promised that she would read Nel's favorite manga in return. Nel also persuaded Fayt to give up some of his old _Fullmetal__ Alchemist_ manga collection in exchange for a few volumes of _Rave Master_ and a copy of an RPG game called Shadow Hearts.

Since Cliff was too busy with his spreading of 'Tuesday horror' to scold them for holding a mini anime convention, the task fell to Clair and she had given up after two seconds. She was more interested in reading some random news article than fighting in a battle she would surely lose. She felt that nothing else could be more boring than homeroom that morning and expressed it clearly as she rested her head on her propped hand. Suddenly her 'teacher senses' came alive, alerting her that a missing student was now coming to class. True Clair was only a teacher's aide, but she had inherited the powers from her father, who once enjoyed tormenting tardy students.

"Hey Nel, you better hide your little drawing. Albel's coming," Clair idly warned while turning a page. She only knew the student's identity because he was the only one who was missing from class. Nel squeaked when she noticed that her latest drawing of him was out in the open. Everyone snickered at her as the door opened.

"You're late," the teacher's aide muttered, earning a 'bah' from Albel. He simply walked over to his desk without any other word while he cradled something in his pants pocket.

"No excuse?" Clair asked in surprise, "Not even a 'whatever worm'?"

"Feh." Was the only reply she received from Albel as he sat down. Cliff also noticed Albel's special attention to the item he was hiding. And of course being the troublemaker he was, the blonde couldn't resist being nosy.

"So, what'cha got in the pocket O Wicked One?" he inquired slyly. Albel's crimson eyes turned to him and a smirk came to his lips.

"An object. Mind your own business maggot."

Cliff raised an eyebrow and smirked as well. He had no idea what was going through Albel's mind, but whatever was in his pocket and what it was for was bound to be interesting. For once in his life (much to Mirage's relief) he was going to let it go and just watch what would happen. Unfortunately, Sophia picked up on the tone and realized that it had a smaller, almost unnoticed, undertone.

"Oh, are you hiding another secret Albel?" She had spent much time with Luther and had become much bolder because she got used to him and his 'bad boy' act. However, she had forgotten that Albel was in a different league.

"Did I just hear you say that you want to lose your life, fruit?" he retorted with a calm demeanor.

"No, never mind!" she squeaked before burying her nose into a copy of _Rurouni__ Kenshin_.

Despite the threats, it was obvious Albel was positively glowing with some form of happiness. Normally he would have a scowl, but not today. Also his threats didn't have much of a bite to them, otherwise Sophia would have been hiding behind one of the others. Of course no one was too concerned about the change in his behavior unless he went around with a smile on his face and a spring in his step.

Nel's eyes narrowed at Albel. She knew it had to be the item he had bought in Arias. But what was it? She knew better than to ask after how he had avoided answering the others. She ended up staying silent and prayed to Apris that the apparent apocalyptic item wasn't for her and wasn't going to be revealed today.

Clair soon cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "I'm sorry to do this to you Albel, but I will need you to go to the office to get a tardy slip."

Everyone blinked, but kept silent. Clair _never_ sent anyone to get tardy slips no matter how late they were. Albel didn't protest or even speak as he calmly arose and left the room, his hand cradling the bulge in his pocket the whole time. Since he was still fairly new to the school, he didn't know Clair's habits and thus didn't know that something was going on. About a minute after the Wicked One left, Clair slammed her hands on her desk and stared at Nel.

"So what is he hiding in his pocket, Nel?" So _that's_ why she sent him out…

"How should I know? He wouldn't tell me what it was when he bought it yesterday," the red head explained with a flustered look on her face.

"You were there when he bought it? Jeez Nel you must be slipping in your old age if you suddenly can't figure out what someone has gotten for you," Maria teased as she mimicked Clair's earlier pose, but she had a grin on her face rather than the look of boredom.

"Well I wasn't exactly _with _him at the-I'M NOT THAT OLD!" Nel shouted when Maria's comment registered.

"I don't recall you having to be with the person in order to know what they got you," Sophia added once Maria was done chuckling at Nel's red face.

"I was distracted by the manga booth…plus I didn't know he was there until I was leaving. And what makes you guys so sure it's for me? For all we know, it could be a small bomb intended for his dad or something," she said in order to regain some of her pride as a spy. She didn't want tell them that she couldn't sense Albel because of his heritage. Karen would slaughter her if she did. If she could convince everyone that the gift (or whatever) was not for her, then she wouldn't be questioned any further. After all, why would Nel care about a present that was not for her?

"I don't know. There are no bombs in existence that could be small and as effective as a normal bomb," Fayt speculated as he searched through his binder for the random bomb specs he kept for …no particular reason. He wouldn't be much of a future evil overlord if he revealed _everything_ about himself.

"Oh maybe he bought himself some blades early and has to hide them until his birthday," Mirage guessed while calmly putting away her latest edition of 'kick me' signs.

"In his pants?" Maria nearly yelled in confusion. The blonde girl only shrugged.

"I mean lock knives. They are small enough to fit in a pocket. I've seen some around at a…" She then coughed and mumbled something.

"What?" Sophia inquired as everyone else was surprised to see Mirage actually blush. The prankster only mumbled again, but this time Cliff caught it.

"At an Anime Convention? Mirage how could you?"

"YES! I knew Mirage was one of us!" Nel shouted happily with her fists in the air.

"…I only like one series…And don't even think about putting those comic books near me!" she threatened as she made a cross sign with her fingers.

Fayt snickered before commenting, "She probably likes _Sensual Phase_ or something."

"Pervert!" Sophia unceremoniously screamed and then did the traditional 'whack him upside his head' with the manga in her hand.

"Anyway, ignoring Mirage's brave confession, what else could Albel be hiding?" Maria wondered, ignoring Sophia's stunt. Now that she and Fayt were together, she loved it when Sophia hit him because that meant she could kiss away the pain later, even though he probably didn't really feel pain from Sophia's hits.

"…Maybe it's another rose," Cliff snickered, remembering the incident that scared Mirage away.

"That's not funny," Mirage and Maria pouted at the same time.

"And it's too big to fit in a pocket," Nel replied, pretending not to be fazed by the comment.

"Well then maybe he's hiding body parts of someone he killed," the male troublemaker guessed again. While that _did_ sound like something Albel would do, Cliff was still missing one little detail.

"Cliff! Think!" Clair snarled as her fists hit the top of her desk, "It's in his _pocket_, so it would have to be _small_!"

Suddenly he acquired a hurt look, "Ya don't have to yell at me Miss Clair…"

"Yeah Miss Clair! You shouldn't get angry because he's a little slow. You are an awful teacher!" Mirage said in Cliff's defense.

"Hey!" Cliff hollered when he heard the 'slow' comment.

The teacher's aide was about to apologize, thinking she may have gone too far, but ended up rolling her eyes when she realized that they were joking around. She then retorted in a monotone voice, "Oh no. I'll never become a real teacher at this rate. What ever shall I do? …Go screw yourselves in detention."

Everyone's eyes widened and their jaws hung open. Even if Clair wasn't really a teacher, it was rare to actually hear those words come from _her_ mouth. Cliff and Mirage were the first to recover and with bright smiles they quickly replied with, "Okay!"

It was then that Clair noticed that Albel had left the classroom door open, making it to where anyone could have heard her. To save herself she turned to Nel, "Nel, how could you say that? You should never tell your fellow classmates to 'go screw themselves'!"

"Wha?" The red haired teen was still too stunned to defend herself.

"Uh Clair? Seriously. Are you really going to become a teacher if you're going to snap at students like that? Or are you going to leech off the money Lancar will make and become a professional housewife?" Fayt wondered after a long awkward silence.

"I've seriously been thinking about that, but I think I should be okay as a teacher as long as students like Cliff are not in my class," she replied before looking at the clock. Speaking of Lancar, she wanted to call him today, "Know what? I think the bells are off again. Class dismissed."

Steeg and Lieber cheered while everyone else shrugged and grabbed their things to leave. No one was going to argue about a few extra minutes of free time…

* * *

Usually around the time a student becomes a senior, they start contracting the serious disease of 'senioritis' and pretty much give up on working hard on school work. Sometimes they may even skip classes. Cliff had been infected with it since he was a freshman and was already used to the symptoms. Now he was starting to infect Mirage with it as well. Luckily for her, she was pretty much done with any major homework and understood the lessons so having senioritis wasn't much of a problem. 

They skipped classes often, but they never left the school grounds. It wouldn't do to leave when they could be spending their 'free time' planning pranks. But today was a rather peaceful day as they decided to spend their 7th period lying on the school roof. Lasselle was gone to some conference and Adray had read them the 'Zen of Monster Trucks' earlier that day. They were both in a relaxed state and didn't feel the need to think too strenuously on a new prank.

They laid next to the small room sized entrance that accessed the roof. It shielded them from the icy chill of the northern winds while the sun beamed down to keep the pranksters warm. Cliff was on his back with one arm under his head and the other wrapped around Mirage's waist. His eyes were lost to the blue sky and the occasional nomadic cloud. Mirage was cuddled against his side like a napping kitten with her head resting lightly on his chest.

"Maybe…he has a sandwich hidden in his pocket…" Cliff muttered with a quiet voice so he wouldn't disturb the peaceful setting. Mirage opened one eye to stare at him in disbelief that he was still trying to guess what the object was.

"That's still too big to fit in a pocket…at least the kind of pocket he has anyway," she replied before opening the other eye. Now that she had thought about it, Cliff was hiding something in his pocket too. He wouldn't tell her what and it was making her very curious. It was highly impossible that they would be hiding the same thing, but this could be a good opportunity to trick him, "Try thinking about things that fit in your pocket, maybe one of those could be what Albel has."

Her boyfriend gave her a blank stare, "…He's hiding cheese in his pocket?"

"_That's _what you have in your pock- wait…what kind of cheese?" she wondered with curiosity.

"Feta…"

Her disgusted look came back in full force, "Cheddar is better. Anyway that can't be it…oh never mind. Wake me when P.E. starts."

The silence gave the male troublemaker the chance to reflect on Mirage's last suggestion. What _did_ he have in his pockets today anyway? He ran a mental checklist and then froze when he thought of the last thing he put in his pocket this morning.

"Apris, I know what he has in his pocket," he muttered in shock as he sat up, bringing Mirage up with him. She was too sleepy to notice that he had said 'Apris' (which meant that he was actually serious) and didn't bother to reply. She yawned lazily and opened her eyes again to regard him.

"What is it this time?" Came her bored inquiry as Cliff realized that he didn't want Mirage to know what he figured out.

"Uh…er…" What could he say that she would believe? He knew she caught the uncertainty in his voice, "Um…a condom! He might have a condom in his pocket!"

She scowled for a moment, leaving him to wonder if she was going to buy his lie. But soon her features softened as she thought it over, "That…might actually be what he has. He could be planning to molest Nel soon or something."

Mirage knew he was hiding something, especially after he let out a sigh of relief. For all she knew, what he meant to guess was something too big for a pocket again and he wanted to change his answer. Cliff then chuckled nervously as he reached into his pocket and pulled out an unused packet.

"I _do_ have one of these in my pocket anyway," he added to further prove his claim.

Mirage raised an eyebrow and then made a lightly disgusted blanch, "That wasn't next to your cheese, was it?"

"What cheese?"

It took her a second to realize that he was making random guesses back when she made the suggestion. Mirage smiled as sweet as she could muster and raised her hand to cup Cliff's cheek, "Dear… no more random thoughts for the rest of the day. Please?"

"Yes ma'am," he replied quickly, knowing that the look meant that he had her upset somehow. She appeared pleased with his answer and then pulled away from him so she could stretch out her muscles.

Cliff stared at his feet and tried to think of …something that he just forgot as Mirage crawled over to the edge of the school roof. He knew the thought had something to do with her, now what was it? He briefly wondered if he should sit upside down and see if that would bring back the idea he was going to have. He would have done it if it were not the fact that Coach Adray warned him that it caused headaches…

"Cliff!" the female prankster shouted, completely shattering what little train of thought he had, "Quick, hand me a condom!"

"Wha?" He glanced around before staring at her wide eyed, "Here?"

She then shook her head and pointed at something on the ground down below, "Not that. Lasselle is coming back. I want to fill the condom with this and drop it on him as he tries to get in."

Mirage held out a bottle that was filled with what appeared to be discolored water. Cliff grinned when he realized that she was holding a bottle of watered down energy drink with a hint of cheap cologne. They made it today to test out a new type of stink bomb that should make the victim hyper as well as smelly. He reached in his pocket to retrieve the makeshift bomb shell only to have his hand brush up against something hard. Now he remembered what he was thinking!

"So, Mirage… We've known each other for a long time, haven't we?" he inquired casually as he handed her the packet.

"Mm-hmm," she agreed before she expertly tore open the package with her teeth and placed the opening of the rubbery item to the mouth of the bottle.

He watched as the liquid expanded the condom and made it look identical to a water balloon, "And even though we haven't been dating that long, we know each other pretty well."

"Sure do." She wasn't giving any indication that she was really paying attention to him as she tied off the end of the condom after the last drop of the mix was in. The stink bomb jiggled happily in her hand, almost matching the glee in Mirage's smirk.

"So…" He decided that this was going to be it, "What would you think if I ask you-"

"Hold this," she commanded as she handed the bomb to him and then leaned over the edge to determine the principal's location and the best point to drop. Cliff clamped his mouth shut because Mirage wasn't going to listen anymore and he was starting to get excited by the prank as well.

Just as Lasselle left the parking lot and began walking on the sidewalk that lead to the entrance, the troublemakers quickly crawled over to the best position. They made sure to be careful enough not to be seen and made sure that the condom didn't break. The principal was closing in fast. If they missed or were seen, then the prank would be for naught. Mirage placed her hands over Cliff's so that they could move the bomb to the right location.

"Aaaaaaand…Now!" she whispered in his ear. They both let go and fell back unto the roof. The following indignant cry of 'What on Elicoor?' was music to their ears. They weren't sure if the target was hit or missed until a student who sounded like Steeg (which Cliff and Mirage would have to wonder why he was somehow present to all their pranks) was happy to point out that Lasselle smelled like 'Ode de Fayt Drink'.

They laid there chuckling for a few minutes before getting up and heading for the door. It would ruin the suspense if Lasselle were to find them up on the roof and immediately deduce that they were the ones responsible for his new trademark odor. When they reached the third floor exit, Mirage turned to face Cliff.

"So what did you want to ask me earlier?"

He gave her a shocked look before staring down at his feet. So she _was_ paying attention… Suddenly Cliff had a large smile on his face as he glanced up at her again, "I forgot!"

Her lips quirked before she reached up and patted him on the head, "I had a feeling you would. Well tell me when you remember. We better split up and create alibis for ourselves before Lasselle catches on to us. Even though it was watered down, I'm sure that bomb is giving him a lot of energy. I wouldn't be surprised if he's talking like a chipmunk."

Cliff nodded as she ran off towards the art room where Albel and Nel would be. Nel must have owed Mirage something again and knew that she could find an excuse with her. With a sigh, Cliff pulled out a hard velvet box and opened it to reveal an engagement ring. It wasn't like he was afraid to ask her, he wanted to ask her at the right time. He knew she would appreciate it if he waited for some special time to ask her, instead of just any casual moment.

Of their own accord, his feet began walking in the opposite direction while his eyes were focused on the ring. Now that he thought about it. It didn't seem likely Albel _would_ be hiding a ring. That's just not the way he worked. Plus he never even gave any indication that he loved Nel other than a 'war buddy' and he never asked her out. Of course such thinking was beyond Cliff's mind, but he knew when things didn't fit and when they did. Even though he was guessing, maybe it was more possible that the Wicked One had a condom in his pocket.

Ring or condom? Which was more Albel's style? Cliff wouldn't know (in fact he could proudly declare that he knew nothing). But he did know that there were going to be changes and he didn't plan to miss that!

* * *

"Okay, now this time try to get it in there without dropping the luggage on your feet," Clair commanded to the students. The day of the trip was finally upon them and the school board had decided to rent a travel bus that could carry luggage. Unfortunately, the students who were assigned to the task were either clumsy or they treated the travel bags too harshly. Clair decided that they could use some supervision before someone else's personal belongings were destroyed. The rest of the seniors were gathered outside and were chatting happily about the trip. 

It was still kind of chilly and the wind prevented the sun from warming things up, but everyone was covered up in heavy coats or jackets and was successfully able to ignore the cold. Fayt had his arm around Maria as they walked down the stairs to wait with the other students next to the bus. Cliff and Mirage followed behind them.

"The best thing about you riding the bus with us is that if the bus driver tries to hurt you, you can actually sue him and win… you know because of your family," Cliff said to Mirage as they passed the crowds to get to the sidewalk.

"Actually, he's going to pretend to be good because there will be adults traveling with us who could report him," Fayt mentioned, briefly glancing at the blonde male behind him.

"Even better!" he replied happily. Maria smiled and leaned into Fayt a bit more before a thought crossed her mind.

"Hey, if they could rent us a new bus, then why couldn't they get us another driver?"

"Because Lasselle is cheap," Fayt shrugged. Cliff, Mirage, and a few other surrounding students who overheard nodded in agreement.

"Is that the bus driver?" Mirage inquired as she pointed at an angry looking man sitting on the stairwell of the bus, "Why does he look so familiar?"

"Yeah, that's him," Cliff replied before he stared at the man blankly, "…Does he look familiar because he's our bus driver?"

Mirage rolled her eyes and sighed, "No, I mean that I have seen his face somewhere before. Besides, I've never been on the bus before so how _would_ I know what he looks like?"

"I thought you must have known him from somewhere because of the way you always make signs about him being an asylum escapee," Maria commented with a grin.

"…Well he _does_ drive like one," Fayt muttered quietly, as if afraid that the bus driver might hear him.

The female troublemaker mulled the face in her mind. Where had she seen him before? For some reason she knew there was some importance to his appearance, like it was something to look out for. But what? From Crosell's magic treasure map that was sold with every kid's meal at Long Santa Mercantilean? It was only after the words 'asylum escapee' registered that it clicked. She had seen his face on the news! And it wasn't just any news either! It was…

Mirage let out a gasp, "Guys! Your bus driver _is_ the escapee from Kirlsa asylum!"

"We know Mirage…" the blue haired girl said in a tired tone. She then pulled away from Fayt to face her, "Isn't it too early to try to pull our legs?"

"I'm serious this time!" Mirage insisted, "He really is from the asylum! I saw his picture in the news!"

"What is this 'news' you speak of?" Mirage deadpanned and then stared at Cliff. It took her a few minutes to realize that he was actually serious.

"Doesn't anyone watch the news?" she asked desperately in Fayt and Maria's direction. She only received head shakes.

"I know what it is," Fayt replied defensively when Mirage glared at him, "it's just I don't have time to watch it."

"Not that she will believe you, but I know Nel watches the news often," Maria offered helpfully.

"Okay, but if she recognizes him too, then you'll have to at least consider my accusation," Mirage warned with a pointed glance at all of her friends.

"Come on Mirage, can't this wait until after my mid-morning nap?" Cliff inquired, finishing his query with a big yawn. He then began stretching out the muscles in his back and shoulder before leaning closer to his partner in crime, "We can think of something better to spook everyone with."

She never put it against him that he wouldn't believe her. After all, it was hard to get through his thick skull _and_ the only amount of news he heard in his life was what the cafeteria ladies were serving that day. She simply pushed him away before he could steal a kiss and reported in a determined tone, "Not until I talk to Nel."

"She's probably with Miss Clair. Come on, I'll go with you since I have business with said teacher's aide." Maria paused before leaning up to give Fayt a small kiss, "See you later."

"Later," he called back as the girls went off to find their targets.

Clair was having no luck in getting the students to pay attention to her, but at least they stopped dropping the luggage everywhere. She then shook her head and gave up all hope when Steeg 'accidentally' opened Marietta's suitcase and put one of her bras on his head. It wasn't long before he put a pair of panties on Leiber's head and both ran around the school yard screaming that they were pretty ladies. Chaos ensued when Marietta found out and chased them with the fury of a thousand Albel-provoked Nels. Welch saw what was happening and laughed so hard that the robot she was controlling to hold her luggage started spinning and throwing random items at nearby students.

"Why don't I get paid enough for this?" the silver haired woman wondered with the shake of her head.

"Because you're not a teacher?"

Clair jumped in shock before she turned to find Nel grinning at her. The sliver haired woman silently cursed all spies and their abilities as she tried to look as if she hadn't been surprised. Then a small growl escaped her when she reflected on her friend's words, "Not even a teacher gets paid enough for this…"

"Well you don't _have_ to come on the trip. With Cliff and Steeg gone, it would be like a two day vacation for you," Nel replied coolly while facing the bus.

Suddenly Clair's hands were on both of Nel's ears as she forced her head to face the direction of Adray. The coach was currently teaching some students how to belch 'The Wheels on the Bus' song so they would be entertained on the trip.

"That's why. Where ever my father goes, I go. Unless you think you can survive him alone," she said after letting Nel go.

"I see your point… Was Adray the _only_ chaperone willing to go with us?" Nel wondered with concern.

"He was the only one Lasselle wanted to get rid of for a few days."

It was obvious to the girls how much the principal didn't like Adray and it was no surprise that he would do anything in his power to get rid of him. Unfortunately for Lasselle, the queen herself appointed Adray the job and only she could fire or retire him. The coach's obliviousness to Lasselle's dislike of him was a relief to Clair because she didn't want her father to be upset. Adray loved everyone and would be sad to find that someone hated him.

Nel put on a cheery look as she turned to face her friend, "It can't all be bad though. We can at least sit together and talk all the way there."

She wasn't fooling Clair. Clair knew that her ulterior motive was to not end up sitting next to Albel. However, it was better sitting with Nel than with Adray or some nerdy student, "That doesn't sound like a bad idea, but we'll have to sit at a certain radius near my dad. I have to make sure he doesn't tell the 'Bloody Bones' story."

"Okay, as long as that also includes sitting out of his smell range, then we have a deal." The red haired teen held out her hand and Clair didn't hesitate to shake it.

When Nel glanced back at Coach Adray, she noticed that Cliff had joined the chorus, but wondered where Mirage could have been. It wasn't like the pranksters to be separated, but then she figured that Mirage went off to get a carbonated beverage to help her keep up with the other burping boys. She decided to leave it at that and wander off, but then she noticed Maria approaching.

"Miss Clair," the blue haired girl called to get her attention, "I have something I need to discuss with you."

Clair gazed at her for a second and then appeared to be displeased, "If this is about the insurance plan to keep your brother away from my house, then go away. I've paid up to February."

Maria let out a laugh, "No, I need to discuss something else and…" she glanced in Nel's direction, "…I need to discuss it privately."

"Fine," Clair muttered as she allowed herself to be dragged away. Nel was worried about that look Maria had given her. It appeared like Maria was planning something against her, but Nel couldn't recall a time when she had upset the moneymaker. Actually the only time she had ever upset Maria was the time when she found out Nel was a metalhead. She decided to go ask Fayt if his girlfriend had been muttering anything about her, just to be safe. But first…

She turned to face Mirage who had just now arrived to stand behind her. If Nel hadn't had her spy senses, she would have bumped into her. It was easy to detect the light concern on the troublemaker's features and the fact that she was worried made the same emotion spread through Nel again, "What is it Mirage? What's wrong?"

"You watch the news, right?" she began before biting her lip. When Nel nodded in confusion she continued, "Well does the bus driver seem familiar to you? Like someone you have seen from the news?"

Mirage pointed at the man she was talking about and Nel followed her gaze. She didn't recognize him at all, but since Mirage seemed upset with this man, she tried thinking as hard as she could. The bus driver seemed like an average guy. He had nicely trimmed hair, a mustache growing above his lip in a trendy style, and was wearing casual clothing. The only strange thing about him was that he appeared to be troubled by something. Nel guessed that he didn't like being around too many people with the way he was trying to stay away from everyone.

"No, sorry. Is he someone famous?" she inquired as she gave up.

"You could say that…" Mirage lightly clasped her hands together in front of her stomach, "I think he's the escapee from the Kirlsa Asylum."

Nel's eyes widened before she looked at the bus driver again, "Are you sure?"

"I am. I know you can see through deceit so you _should_ be the only person who would believe me," Mirage muttered while glaring at the other students.

"I can tell you're serious, but how are you so certain he's the escapee?"

"You haven't seen the news report where they showed his picture? They played it about three days ago."

Nel crossed her arms and tried to remember what she did on the night of the alleged report. It was Saturday. She was out late training with Albel and before that she was searching catalogs for a birthday gift for him. When she did have time to watch the news, she only caught the last ten minutes of it.

"Sorry, I must have missed it. I was kind of busy that day," Nel answered with the look of guilt. As rare as it was, it wasn't fun watching Mirage looking uncertain and worried. The last time she was like that was when Cliff was called in after that fight he had with Luther last year. The least she could do was convince her that the bus driver wasn't as she thought, "I did hear the description of the escapee and he was supposed to be a man in his mid-40s with no hair due to a rare skin condition. Since this guy seems to have hair on his head, and he's working in the school district where it's mandatory to look into past records, it's hard to believe that he could be the same guy."

"I guess you're right. It's just his facial structure looked too much like him, but then he could be some relative to the escapee," Mirage finally agreed, "Though I still can't get over this feeling that something bad is going to happen. Maybe that 'author' Cliff made up is on to something about Tuesdays."

"Yeah…" Nel whispered as the troublemaker wandered away. She was getting the same feeling too, but it only happened every time she glanced at Albel, hence the reason why she sought to sit next to Clair.

Over near the parking lot of the school, Sophia decided that it would be fun to turn the tables and follow Luther around for a change. Luther knew it from the start and quickly ordered his goons away before they noticed her. Once he made it to a secluded spot where no one should see them, he stopped and waited for her to make her presence known. He half expected her to jump out from behind him and try to scare him, but she only walked up to him and stared with a smile on her face.

"Hi Lou."

"…Hello," he responded, still unsure how to act around her. Sophia seemed to quickly pick up the fact that he was uncomfortable with her around and decided to make it worse for him by giving him a small hug. He needed experience in human interaction if he ever hoped to survive in a real social life.

"So are you ready for the trip?" she inquired in hopes to get him to converse with her, "We could sit together on the bus-"

"I do delight in breaking your hopes, Sophie, because I'm not going," he said tersely before he tried to walk away.

"But why?" There was no hint of whining or disappointment in her voice, just curiosity. Sophia had always treated him like some fascinating discovery and he wasn't sure if he was annoyed or flattered from it.

"Because it wouldn't be profitable for me. Every minute wasted on that trip is better used in earning money here. Besides, the last thing I'd want is to be near those two primates you consider your friends," Luther snarled in distain as he thought about Cliff and Mirage. Sophia rolled her eyes once his back was turned to her.

"_I_ would make it profitable once I'm through with you."

Luther froze in his tracks. While he didn't know anything about 'love', he knew that tone very well and what she was trying to say. When he dared to look at her with widened eyes, he found her standing in a seductive pose with the tip of her index finger between her teeth. A long awkward silence followed before Sophia began smiling. Then her smiling turned into a light and pleasant chucking.

"I'm just kidding. I wouldn't want to do _that_ until I'm married…well maybe engaged at least," she said after a bit of thinking.

He coughed and sharply faced away from her to hide the fact that he _was_ thinking of her in that sense, "Th-then don't offer if you didn't mean it."

"Does that mean that you…" she trailed off with a light blush at the thought that he wanted her. She honestly _was_ joking. She didn't mean to come off as perverted as Fayt.

"Not if I'm supposed to wait. Why bother waiting on you when there are other girls ready now?" he muttered, partly curious about her answer. It wasn't like he really spent time with women since they usually cost money and were essentially a waste of time. In fact the only knowledge he had of the subject was from the constant stories of Belzeber's nights around town.

"Is that really how you view a relationship?" She now had a saddened tone in her voice, "I'm not going to say that what you're doing is wrong, but sometimes waiting makes it better. You might find that only one girl could-"

"Stop," he commanded as he walked back towards her, "I don't really do that with women."

"Oh…" she replied softly. There was still a blush accenting her cheeks and had an embarrassed grin on her lips.

Luther didn't have the appearance that he was any less harsh and cold than before. He was standing before her in a typical pose with his hands in the pockets of his pants. His glare was only two degrees warmer than normal, but still had the effect of paralyzing students in pure fear. However, the inside of the gang leader's mind was a total mess. He carefully traced her features visually and couldn't help but notice how vulnerable she appeared.

It was a nice change after her teasing and flirting with him with no way of regaining some of his …pride. While he may not be inflicting fear upon her, he found that it wasn't so bad to make her realize that she was weaker and less experienced than him. That fact alone made him feel a little more dominant towards her. …But then, seeing her like that also made him want to protect her for some reason.

He was so focused on the features of the girl's face that he didn't realize that he was leaning closer to her. Sophia made no movements to get away from him, almost like she was frozen in place. Their lips were only inches apart and the tips of their noses brushed against one another. He could feel her warm breath mingling with his before the winds chilled the air again. Suddenly all of his senses came back and he quickly backed away before he did anything else.

"I better go. Have fun on your trip Sophie," he said curtly, ignoring the disappointed look on her face. Not wanting to spend another uncomfortable minute with her, he started walking away. He had some thinking to do anyway…

"Wait," Sophia called out as she ran to catch up to him. Luther soon felt her arms slide to the front of his torso and her chest against his back, "I'm going to miss you."

He didn't answer her, but then realized that she was going to repeat the same actions from days before and then steeled his nerves. He was prepared this time as he felt her move in front of him. She wasn't going to surprise him this time. …While he may have believed that he had the upper hand this time, nothing prepared him for the electric shock from the feel of her soft lips…upon his own. She didn't kiss his cheek this time…

Sophia was going to make it quick and was about to pull away, but then something snapped within him. Luther's arms tightened around her small frame to pull her against him and he began to kiss her back aggressively. He was pleased with her stunned grunt and felt a jolt from her body when his tongue touched her lips. He traced her lips for a while as he tried to entice her to open her mouth for him. She knew a lot when it came to matchmaking, but she was still new to the actual experience.

Luther's eyes snapped open when he realized what he was doing and immediately released her. Her knees were weak and she looked like she could barely stand, but she caught herself in time to keep from tripping over herself. A hand flew to her mouth as her wide eyes stared at him in astonishment. Did he know that he had stolen her first kiss? Well Sophia didn't really mind that and was glad that he was her first.

Unable to figure out how or why he had done that, Luther decided on a quick retreat before he did something else strange. He pushed past her in his hurry to walk away as fast as he could. Sophia stumbled back from the force of his shove but was able to recover in time to watch him go.

* * *

Nel and Clair were the last to get on the bus because Clair had to make sure that every student was present. Luckily Cliff and the others saved them some seats in the back. Unlike the school bus, the seats by the back door were not connected so Cliff and Mirage were separated from Fayt and Maria. As the girls traveled down the aisle, Nel didn't realize that there were no seats available for two people. There was one seat next to Albel and one next to Sophia on the other side. When they reached their destination, Clair bumped her hip against Nel's and toppled her over to the seat next to Albel. 

"Hey!" the red head called as she fell. The back of her head landed in the Wicked One's lap on top of his CD player as she sheepishly looked up at him. He only glared down at her without any malice or threats before she quickly sat up. Clair had already sat down in the empty seat next to Sophia while faking an apologetic look.

"So sorry Nel…" she grinned as the embarrassed teen glared at her. The bus began rolling before she could think of anything else to say. Suddenly Nel sensed Maria shifting behind her and turned to find the blue haired girl handing Clair a nice sum of Fol.

"…You PAID her to make me sit next to him?" Nel growled accusingly as Maria smirked, "Clair, how could you put money before me?"

"…Hey Maria, you could have paid me to do it y'know. I could have done it better," Cliff said from his seat behind Sophia. Nel paled at the thought of what he could have done as Clair shot another (real) apologetic look.

"Why ask you when it's sweeter to see a close friend of Nel's do the task. Plus, Nel how could you deny your friend a way to earn some money? Don't be so cold hearted…like Albel," Maria snickered as she moved back into her seat to cuddle next to Fayt. Nel huffed and crossed her arms in response before she sharply faced the front.

After a while Nel wanted to so something, but found that she had lost her chance in chatting with Clair. It appeared the teacher's aide discovered the treasure house of blackmail knowledge that Sophia held and was trying to get any dirt she could on certain students. By the sound of MIDI music and the occasional explosions, Nel could tell that Fayt and Maria were engaged in some two player game behind her and Cliff and Mirage were passing coded notes by paper football to Steeg and Welch.

She stole a brief glance at Albel who had been silently listening to music beside her. She could barely hear the sounds of some heavy metal band blaring through the ear buds over the noise of the bus. Why did Albel bring a CD player when he could have brought a MP3 player instead? Then again, the batteries in MP3 players don't last very long and he probably didn't want to bring a charger with him. Since it was apparent that everyone was occupied, she pulled out some manga and began reading.

About an hour and two volumes later, Nel jumped when she felt something brush against her thigh. She looked down and found that the back of Albel's hand was the culprit. Her eyes traveled up his arm and up to his face only to find that he was asleep. For once in his life, he actually appeared peaceful and harmless. Nel shifted her attention out the window and saw that the bus was riding the ferry and that they were getting close to Wayra. The beige colored buildings quickly increased in size as they drew closer. Pretty soon they would be passing Kirlsa and then be entering the dessert.

Now that his eyes weren't glaring at her, she couldn't stop herself from studying him. The first thing she noticed was the CD he was currently listening to. The player had a clear lid and she was able to determine that the colors swirling around under there was one of the rare Nuclear Crucifixion concert recordings. Nel swallowed nervously as she glanced up at his sleeping features. …It had been a while since she last listened to some heavy metal and Maria was apparently too busy to notice her listening to something she 'shouldn't' listen to. Plus, Albel was asleep so he probably wouldn't notice if she pulled off one of his ear buds…

An eye snapped open the second her hand entered his personal space, causing her to quickly pull away. She grinned as innocently as she could muster and had a slight blush as he pulled out an ear bud to listen to her excuse.

"Sorry," she whispered lowly so the others wouldn't hear, "I thought that since you were asleep you wouldn't mind me borrowing your music to listen to. It's been awhile since I was heard any Nuclear Crucifixion."

"Then why didn't you bring your own?" he inquired in a slightly taunting voice. He didn't seem angry or annoyed so that was a good sign.

"Because I thought Maria would gripe about it, but she's too busy to notice right now," she explained as she shifted her eyes to look in another direction. She decided to focus her attention on the CD player instead of his eyes. It was probably safer that way.

"You shouldn't let the worm control your taste in music," he replied before offering the ear bud he pulled out, "Here."

She was amazed that he was willing to share… but she noticed that he was giving her the one closest to her instead of handing her the opposite one. …Which meant that she had to lean closer to him in order to put it in the correct ear. She briefly thought about requesting to switch the ends, but then figured that he would tease her about being so afraid to be near him.

With a gulp, she slowly shifted closer, trapping his hand between their thighs in the process, and then placed the ear bud in the proper ear. She almost let out a contented sigh when the sweet sounds of heavy metal infiltrated half her hearing. Suddenly Albel's trapped hand began to move and traveled past the small of Nel's back to rest on the other side of her. She almost squeaked when he pulled her body closer to his and then rested his hand on the open space where she was.

He was only trying to move his hand to a place where it wouldn't fall asleep or cramp up, she rationalized, but she was still unable to hold back the blush. She was immensely grateful that he was looking out the window where the Kirlsa landscape was rushing past them.

"Oh and then he… Hold on a sec," Sophia said as she glanced over Clair's shoulder. The silver haired woman watched as the younger girl fished a disposable camera out of her purse and snapped a picture of Albel and Nel.

Unfortunately for Sophia, she had forgotten to turn off the flash of the poor doomed camera. Clair watched on as Nel's face reddened even more and she refused to glance at them. But Albel turned his head to face them and when he glared at the device, it broke into three pieces.

"Oh poopie," the matchmaker cursed as she dropped the camera pieces back into her purse, "…Good thing I bought spares."

Clair gazed at Albel and Nel one last time and wondered if Albel's glare was really as powerful as Nel claimed it to be or if that camera had something against attractive people instead of ugly ones.

It wasn't long before the bus turned on the path that went through the mountain range that separated Glyphian lands from the Mosel Dessert. When they cleared a particular turn in the road, the students were rewarded by a beautiful overview of the whole desolate area. The scenery was breathtaking…if only the students cared about such things.

It appeared that they would be at their destination in no time as the cacti and rock structures zoomed past them. But once they were quite a distance from the mountain range path, perhaps maybe halfway to the Ruins of Mosel, there was a pop, followed by an electrical sound. Then the whole bus jumped up before it began slowing down rapidly.

"Oh great!" Clair yelled as she glanced outside at the still scenery, "You mean to tell me that I was right about Lasselle trying get us stuck here? I'm going to give that man such a complaint and a beating…!"

Back in Aquios, Lasselle suddenly looked up from the papers on his desk and let out a mighty sneeze.

_"Bless you sir…"_ the secretary said automatically through the speakers in a bored tone. Lasselle only grunted and blew his nose on his handkerchief.

"We are going to die!" a random student cried before Coach Adray called for everyone to be silent.

"Calm down everyone! We're not going to die," Clair ordered, "Does anyone have a cell phone? We can call for help."

Some of the students who owned cell phones began pulling their devices out.

"No good, I don't have a signal," Nel said as she glanced at her friend.

"I don't either," Mirage added. Fayt, Sophia, Welch, Marietta, Steeg, and Leiber also reported the same. Albel only 'feh'ed as he checked his, which meant that he didn't have a signal either.

Clair growled under her breath at the bad luck and wondered what to do next. Everyone was too occupied to notice the bus driver twitching at the wheel. He didn't like the situation one bit. There were adults present so he couldn't torment the kids and the bus wouldn't move anymore. He tapped his fingers on the wheel in an attempt to calm down and ignored the panicked voices behind him. His eyes wildly darted over the sand and stone outside until a glint caught his attention.

The glint was from a small knife that was resting on the floor beside his seat. Where did that come from? It was almost like someone left it there for him, as strange as that sounded. The bus driver almost snorted. What would he need with a knife? Sure, he was crazy, but he was not a murderer or some masochist.

_"Kill them."_

He jumped and frantically glanced around to see who had said that. There were voices in his head again? He hadn't heard them ever since he had gotten the job as a bus driver…

_"Kill them!"_ the voice was more insistent.

_"K-kill who?" _he inquired in his mind, not wanting people to think he was strange talking out loud.

_"The children.__ Kill them all. Especially kill the child with crimson eyes and the one with crimson hair,"_ the voice growled, pleased that his victim was listening.

This didn't sound good. Whoever was in his head had a very strong presence and it almost felt like it could take control of his body if it wanted to. But it hadn't so far… The bus driver didn't want to follow the orders because if he did something like that, then everyone would know who he was and would force him to go back to …that place.

_"Why me?__ Can't someone else do it?"_

He felt a snarl of disappointment in his mind before the voice started laughing, _"Fool. You are the only one who can and SHOULD do this. After all, your kind has a great affinity with us demons. That is why you can hear us. …And if need be, you can be controlled by us. But those other humans who do not have your power fear and reject you. That is why they sent you to that miserable prison. It is high time for you to take your revenge. Start by eliminating the very children who will soon grow up to be your next captors…"_

The bus driver suddenly felt cold. This whole time when he had thought that he may have been crazy from hearing voices in his head was actually demons trying to commune with him. All his life, his family had been ashamed of him for his odd behavior and had sought help for him since he was a child. It hadn't been long before he was permanently admitted to the asylum in Kirlsa, though he had no idea why.

The asylum was for people who were violently crazy. His problem was hearing strange voices in his head. So if what this voice was implying was true, then there must have been periods when he had been controlled by demons that made him do violent things unconsciously. …Well his sense of humor was of his own volition, something he picked up from the other patients in the asylum.

_"B-b-but I can't d-do that! If I did, they will take me back to that place. They don't treat us like humans there!"_ he cried, hoping the voice would tire of him and leave, _"Please don't make me do this."_

_"What is this? Fear? What a useless emotion! I can easily suppress this ridiculous fear you are suffering from…"_

In back of the bus, it was a total war zone of arguments. Welch fighting Lieber, Marietta contradicting Steeg, and Fayt insulting Sophia…until the brunette slipped Maria a particular note that contained revealing secrets about him. Cliff watched the chaos with a grin and wished that he had some popcorn for the entertaining show while Mirage shared the same concerned look that Clair was giving. Neither girl knew what to do to calm everyone down. Though of all ironies, the only two people who didn't seem to be arguing at all were the ones who were most notorious for it: Albel and Nel.

The sudden laughter was almost unnoticeable under the roar of voices, but soon it became louder and the students became quieter as they began hearing it. All heads turned to the front of the bus where the bus driver had his head thrown back and his shoulders shaking as his maniacal cackle increased in volume. While his laughing was a usual experience of those who ride the bus every morning, it was now too different to be the same. The bus wasn't in motion, nor were there any kids trying to get on or off the bus so there was no reason for him to be laughing.

The bus driver was really creeping out the students this time as they ducked their heads behind the seats in front of them. Suddenly it became silent…

"You okay?" Coach Adray asked as he placed a hand on the bus driver's shoulder. It happened so fast that the coach didn't know what hit him. One minute he was standing behind the bus driver, the next he was thrown against the windshield and the dashboard.

"Father!" Clair screamed as she shot up. Some of the gadgets of the dashboard were sending out threatening sparks around him, but ThunderFart was overall okay. After all, it was only a small toss compared to what he went through during his days as a masked wrestler.

The move had made the hair on the bus driver's head fall off and land by his feet, revealing that he had been wearing a wig. With a small grunt and a smirk, he slowly brought his arm up to wipe the fake mustache off his upper lip.

"Th-that face…" Welch muttered and stole a glance at Marietta who was thinking the same thing she was.

"It can't be…" she replied with a shocked expression, "…It's Randall!"

"The escapee from the Kirlsa Asylum!" the cinnamon haired girl finished.

"I _TOLD_ you!" Mirage yelled triumphantly from her seat. Her friends only glanced at her with wide, shocked eyes before turning back to the scene at the front. Her eye twitched. It wasn't like she expected them to apologize given the current situation, but they could at least give her a little more acknowledgement.

Randall, as Marietta had identified him, bent down to retrieve something at his feet. At first glance, everyone thought he was picking up his wig, but instead he grabbed some long and shiny object. The cackling resumed when he straightened, revealing the small knife that was in the design of a butcher knife.

"I've been ordered to kill you all!" he announced gleefully as he staggered on his feet. It appeared that he didn't have full control of his body. Randall took a few random swings as he made his way down the aisle. Thankfully no one was in the way of the blade. Students cowered down and tried to squirm under the seats or press against the windows to get away from him.

Clair growled lightly as she slowly reached for her daggers. She could sense Nel doing the same and felt a little more relieved that she wouldn't be the only one fighting. But it was going to be hard to fight in such a confined space. One false move and an innocent bystander could be hurt…

With another chuckle, he traveled a few more steps down the bus and then leveled his gaze directly at Nel and Albel, "He wants you dead most of all, so you two will be first."

The teens glanced at each other, then back at the bus driver. They had no clue who he was referring to nor did they recognize him from some point in their pasts. They couldn't even begin to imagine what they could have possibly done to the man to be the first targets.

Nel's eyes narrowed as she turned back to Albel, "What have you done?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing…" he muttered with a shrug.

Clair wasn't about to let the man have another step and quickly moved with her daggers out. Randall only smirked and drew closer. Adray had recovered and was about to attack from behind, but the bus driver caught on and quickly slashed the knife at him. The coach managed to dodge the blow and jump away, but was caught off guard once again as a fist landed on his face and threw him back a few feet. Now that he was facing away from her, Clair used the advantage to make her attack.

She wasn't shocked that Randall noticed her and blocked one of her daggers, but she was surprised by the force that was pushing back her blade. His muscles must have been made of steel in order to be that strong. Her shock cost her the battle because he used the distraction to kick her in the stomach and forced her to the back of the bus.

"Mirage!" Cliff shouted when an idea came to him. He knew that she would catch on to it the moment their eyes met. His partner in crime nodded in understanding and moved to help Clair up as Cliff slid past her to reach the center aisle. Nel was ready to unsheathe a dagger by the time Randall was close to them and hoped Albel would be able to back her up from the small space they were trapped in.

Suddenly Cliff came charging forward looking like he was going to tackle him, but quickly ducked down to the floor when Randall swung his knife horizontally. The minute Cliff hit the ground, Mirage jumped over him and used her steel toe boot clad foot to kick the bus driver's knife hand. The blade whirred as it spun up and then implanted itself into the roof of the bus. She sighed in relief before she back flipped out of the way and let Cliff finish him off.

Mirage made a rather reckless move because if she hadn't aimed right, the knife could have landed on one of the students. The muscled teen sprang up from his crouch and tackled Randall to the floor. Before the bus driver could react or even fight back, Cliff clasped his hands together and swung them down on Randall's head. It was an instant knock out. Everyone cheered for the pranksters as they returned to their seats with smug grins. Nel sighed in relief and wiped away some sweat before glancing back at Clair to see if she was okay.

"I'll keep 'em down in case he wakes up," Coach Adray announced as he sat down on the prone body of the bus driver, "And if he's lucky, he may get acquainted with the breakfast burrito I had this morning!"

The cheering ceased and was replaced by screams of terror as the students scrambled to get away from ThunderFart before he decided to release his first attack. Clair shook her head and rolled her eyes before she wiped away the blood from her lips. The kick to the stomach caused her to cough some blood up, but she knew she would be okay after a bit of rest. She shakily got on her feet and walked over to where Nel was sitting.

"Okay, I can't say for sure about Albel, but since when were you in an asylum? That's the only way I can figure how you became his target is if you met him there," Clair said weakly, but she was still able to smirk down at her friend and Albel. He growled menacingly at her from where he sat, but made no retort.

"I honestly don't know. I'm more disturbed by how he said '_He_' wants us dead like there was some entity that's after us. …And I don't mean to take his side, but he'll never be admitted into an asylum," Nel replied while jabbing her thumb at Albel, "He'd kill all the doctors, nurses, and patients in one day."

She heard an amused grunt next to her. Apris, he _liked_ the idea! Clair chuckled at them until she noticed the rumbling sound that made the whole bus and apparently the ground beneath them tremble.

"…Sorry," Adray muttered sheepishly thinking that he let out one without knowing.

"Father!" Clair scolded in frustration.

"No wait…that's not the famous tremor of ThunderFart," Cliff muttered before thinking of what the shaking could be. Sophia gulped nervously before glancing out her window. She had a bad feeling ever since the bus driver had been knocked out. Suddenly her eyes caught movement on the horizon. There was smoke or dirt rising and she could barely make out some tiny dots. She let out a gasp when she realized what it was.

"Demons!" she cried as she jumped away from her seat. Fayt rushed over to her and then took a look out her window.

"No not demons, just the minions. …There's so many on them!" he reported as he glanced back at the others.

"Oh we must have broken down on some demon's territory. They were probably sent to chase us off," Maria guessed before laughing derisively, "Kind of like how Prissy always chases Cliff off Mirage's property."

Her brother closed one eye and pointed at her before saying sternly, "Not. Funny."

"Okay this is an emergency, not a comedy," Clair started before facing the other frightened students, "Everyone make sure your windows are up and locked and then move to the center aisle of the bus. They can't break through the metal so we'll be safe as long as we stay inside. Steeg and Leiber, go barricade the door in the front."

"Right!" the brothers called as they ran to do her bidding. She counted her blessings that the back door could only be opened from the inside.

"Anyone else whose brave or stupid enough, go help them," the teacher's aide added before glancing at Cliff, "Go ahead and go up there."

The troublemaker gave her a blank stare, "Are you calling me brave or stupid?"

"…Can it be both?"

There was no time for a comeback or a chance to move as the minions rammed into the side of the bus as if they were trying to topple it over. The little monsters surrounded the bus quickly and tried jumping up to see inside. Many of them tapped on the glass of the windows like little kids at a zoo. There were some monsters who were able to make dents in the metal, but as Clair said, they couldn't break through. However, it wouldn't be long before they figured out to throw rocks to break the windows and try to get in that way…

"Are we just going to sit here and hope they get tired and leave?" Maria shouted above the noise the minions were making.

"We have no choice!" Clair yelled back, "We're too far into the desert to have someone try to run to the Mosel Ruins or back to Kirlsa for help and it would be suicidal since I'm sure some of these monsters would probably chase them. Not to mention, all that running in the hot sun and no water would most likely kill you."

"Would the attendants at the ruins notice if we don't show up?" Sophia inquired from her crouched position on the floor.

"Well they are expecting us, but they will only call the school to ask about us," Clair explained after recovering her balance from a particularly nasty jolt from the front of the bus. She then clamped her teeth down on the second joint in her index finger and muttered quietly so no one else could hear her, "…It could take up to a week for a search party to find us…"

"Then what about taking a cavern path back to Kirlsa?" a male voice asked, causing everyone to face the source. Albel calmly walked over to the teacher's aide and stared down at her, "It would be safer and much closer to run to the cave in the nearby mountain range and there would be protection from the sun."

"Really? I wasn't aware of there being caves around here…" she sighed and then cast a doubtful glance.

"I know this area pretty well and there is a tunnel through the mountains that lead back to Kirlsa."

"Sorry," Clair shook her head, "but it's too dangerous for anyone to leave the bus right now. You're just going to have to sit and wait for rescue."

"Heh," Albel smirked before he jumped up and pulled down the knife that was implanted in the ceiling, "I was never the type to wait patiently for something."

No one could predict his movements and before anyone knew it or could even try to stop it, the Wicked One opened the back door and jumped past the minions. He then quickly ran off as a few monsters noticed him and began to pursue him. Fayt slammed the door shut on Clair's command before any minion could get in.

"Damn that boy!" Clair cursed and then stormed off to check on her father.

Nel bit her lower lip as she watched his form disappear toward the mountain range. Just what was he up to? It wasn't like him to be so helpful…or so reckless. He could get seriously hurt…but then he _was_ half demon so he would have better chance of surviving than anyone else on the bus.

"Worried? …About him?" Sophia asked quietly near her ear. …Or was it her? Nel couldn't really tell with the person being behind her. She sensed Sophia and it sounded like her, but something didn't seem right. She was talking rather strangely, "He may have demon blood in his veins, but his human side is driven to protect the one he loves, even by going past his limits. There is no guarantee that he could persevere out there, that's why he needs you…"

Nel's eyes widened. Demon blood? Oh Karen was going to kill her! She quickly whirled around and shouted frantically, "How did you find out about that?"

She then blinked. No one was behind her. Sophia was still crouching on the ground near Maria's feet and too far from her to be able to sneak up behind her. Her large eyes looked up at her worried…well actually everyone was giving her a worried look.

"Nel? Are you going crazy at a time like this? Who are you talking to?" Maria inquired as the red haired girl tried to make sense of what happened.

"She's probably upset her boyfriend just jumped out and ran off," Mirage guessed, "You really need to put a leash on him if you're going to panic every time he leaves you."

"Oh but it's so romantic! He's risking his life to save Nel!" Sophia shouted dramatically with her eyes closed and her hands clasped together. She then opened one eye and added cynically, "Because we all know he isn't doing it for us…"

"…That's true," Maria muttered flatly. Nel gritted her teeth and sat down. Nobody seemed too concerned about Albel, not even Sophia. Then who had been talking to her? Oh what does it matter? She didn't have time to reflect on her possible insanity.

She immediately arose from her seat and strode over to Clair, "Clair, I'm going after him."

The grey haired girl let out a sigh and buried a hand in her hair, "You too? Oh well when you make up your mind, there's no stopping you. Plus, I'll feel better if there were two of you out there instead of one. Just don't get yourself killed out there okay?"

"I'll be sure to bring him back to his senses and drag him back here," Nel replied with a relieved grin. It was good to have an understanding friend, even if she had a tendency to worry too much.

"No, don't bother coming back. We couldn't possibly get you back on the bus without endangering everyone else. Just hope that Albel is right about the tunnel and go with him to get help," Clair ordered before going to the cooler near Adray's former seat. She took out two water bottles and tossed them to her friend, "Take these too. It wouldn't do if you became dehydrated before you reached the mountain range."

"Right," she nodded before dumping out the contents of her mini back pack and placing the water bottles in. She then zipped up the bag and secured it onto her shoulders.

"Fayt!" Clair commanded as her eyes faced the back, "Get ready to open the door for Nel. Cliff and Mirage, prepare to beat back any monster that tries to get in."

The selected three nodded and went to the door to await the next order. Maria and Sophia cleared out of the way so Nel could have some running distance to get outside. Clair counted to three to help out, but Nel started running at 2. She knew that by the time Clair shouted '3' Fayt would open the door and then she could jump out quickly enough without giving the monsters a chance to realize the door was open.

With a small grunt, she kicked a minion in the face and landed on him. It may have been enough to where Fayt could close the door without Cliff or Mirage having to fight, but she didn't bother looking back to tell. The minute her feet touched ground…well minion, she immediately sprinted off towards the area Albel was last seen.

* * *

"So they have left that metal contraption, have they?" Romero inquired in a dark, but amused tone as he watched the scene through a crystal ball that Kazu was controlling. 

"Should I tell the others to go after them?" the head minion inquired with a small glance at his master.

"Not all of them. If they do a good job and bring me what I want, then they may have the other children as a reward. But until the ones I want are caught, the children must be kept unharmed," he commanded regally.

"Unharmed? Why sire?" Kazu inquired, knowing that it was unusual for the king to hesitate in the destruction of human unless there was a good reason.

"In case the minions lose sight of my prey and they manage to escape. If the children in the metal contraption are left unharmed, then my wall decorations would come back to rescue them, giving the minions a second chance to capture them."

"I see…" Kazu muttered before sending orders to the monsters through telepathy. Both watched as nearly half of the monsters in the crystal ball began running towards where the girl ran off too. Still there was one more detail (well two actually) the head minion couldn't shake off, "Sire, I know that you doubt in their ability to escape, but what if they do and manage to bring back help?"

"Would any adult believe the words of children? It's a horrible fact that will be used to our advantage."

"I meant Sir Nox and Sir Zelpher. They could get them to come and help."

Romero scoffed and then made a disgusted face in memory of his son-in-law, "If that were to happen, then I shall personally show up myself. They can watch as I take their children and kill them by my hand. In any case, make it to where escape is impossible. Send more minions if need be."

Kazu felt some sweat slide down the side of his face from Romeo's admission that he _didn't _want to go out there and face Glou. He may have sounded confident, but the fact that he was allowing more minions to be sent was proof that he didn't want the children to get so far. The king then laughed as he walked off, leaving the head minion to mutter a prayer to save his own soul for when Ipiria learned of her father's plans.

* * *

It was hot. It was dry. The sun was burning her flesh. Her legs hurt and her breath was short from the constant running. But Nel was in no position to stop and rest. There were minions chasing after her, about fifteen of them. Way too many for her to fight off alone. Also she was more concerned about catching up to Albel to care about the pain in her muscles. When she dared a glance back, she noticed some were about to catch up to her. 

While she couldn't take on fifteen, it was easy enough to quickly eliminate two or three. She only stopped long enough to kill the ones who caught up to her and then continued running. She knew Albel must have been okay because she had long since run across the bodies of the monsters that chased after him. Still in this heat, there was still a possibility he could have passed out from heat exhaustion.

It was by the time there were seven minions left chasing her that she finally caught glimpse of him. He was already near a cavern opening. Nel was about to shout to him, but she had let her guard down enough for a minion to attack her. Her shout was replaced by a cry of pain as claws went down her back. The wound wasn't so deep and not life threatening, but it still stung badly. She slashed down the monster in retaliation. Unfortunately, her wound was serious enough to slow her down so that the remaining six could catch up to her.

"Are you always this pathetic cerise?" Albel wondered as he threw his temporary weapon into a monster that was about to lunge for Nel.

"You try out running 15 minions," she growled as she moved closer to him to execute the Cobra Strike Waltz. She wasn't going to give him any slack because only five minions chased after him.

Since they weren't facing expert swordsmen, the Cobra Strike Waltz was more than enough to destroy the remaining monsters. Nel decided to pull out a water bottle and nearly drained all of its contents. She never felt so thirsty in her life. When she was done, she pulled out a bottle for Albel, but already found that he was walking back to the cave. He probably already knew that she was here to accompany him rather than drag him back otherwise he would have stayed to yell and argue with her.

"Hey, you better drink something before you pass out!" she warned as she jogged to catch up with him. She was able to see his flushed features when he turned slightly to catch the bottle she tossed at him. He didn't appear to be staggering or ready to pass out, but she was pretty sure he was affected by the heat as much as she was.

Albel drank in slower gulps than she did and only drained one fourth of the water. Either he was trying to show her up by conserving water or he just wasn't that thirsty. In fact, he probably hadn't run as much as she had. They were getting close to the cave again when something whizzed past Albel's ear. A small explosion then appeared ahead of them, before they could figure out that they were being attacked. They quickly turned to find who or what was responsible for the fireball.

"Oh no, there's more of them!" Nel groaned when she caught sight of the minions scrambling towards them from a sand dune. On top of the sand dune were two spell casting monsters, one of which was the one who had cast a Firebolt at them. What was worse, there were more monsters coming after them than had previously been chasing them.

Before she could ask Albel what fighting plan they were going for, she suddenly found herself being dragged by him as he ran for the cave entrance, "We're…running away?"

"What do you expect?" he barked back, "You're injured _and _we can't expect a fair fight with those long range spell casters since you keep refusing to learn runology."

Nel bit her lip to keep from retorting how he refused to learn it as well.

"The tunnel inside is narrow enough for the both of us to take them on in small groups," Albel continued, not once slowing down his steps, "It would also make it harder for any runology to actually hit us."

She did agree with his plan and was slightly embarrassed that she couldn't pick up on it on the get-go. After all, she of all people should be able to read his actions by now. Perhaps her injury was worse than she thought and that's why she wasn't thinking clearly. They were almost at the mouth of the cave when a well aimed Firebolt set off near Nel's foot and made her trip. There was another Firebolt intended for Albel that missed and hit the side of the cave as he fell down with her.

"Clumsy wretch," he cursed as he struggled to get back up while keeping a firm hold on her arm.

"Sorry," she sneered sarcastically before she was roughly pulled to her feet. The minions were gaining on them, but suddenly it didn't seem that important as Albel and Nel noticed that the ground was shaking. It turned out that the last Firebolt had loosened many large rocks and now they were tumbling down towards them. There was no time for thinking. Nel was only vaguely aware of Albel pulling her into the cave before everything went black…

It may have been five minutes or it could have been five hours before Nel began to wonder if she was unconscious or if there had been a cave in. She didn't hear or see Albel even though he was right beside her at the time… then again she couldn't see _anything_. She tried to wave her hand before her face only find the same blackness as she had been seeing before. She touched the tip of her nose to make extra sure she wasn't dreaming or anything.

"Are you okay?" She jumped when she heard Albel's voice and then quickly calmed herself.

"Y-yeah. What happened?" she couldn't help but inquire. Since everything had happened so fast, she wasn't sure what had happened.

"What do you think? There was a cave in and we're trapped inside. But at the same time, the monsters are stuck outside with no way of getting us," he explained curtly before she heard him stand up, "Well there's no point waiting here, so we might as well continue on. Let's go."

"Go? Go where?" Nel couldn't see at all and reached for something to grab. Her hand eventually made contact with a boulder and she tried to use it to help herself up.

"What? Are you blind or something?" he scoffed as if he was able to see clearly.

She grimaced as she lost her hold and fell back on her butt before snapping, "Of course I can't see. It's pitch black in here!"

"Really? I can see you." She froze and then realized that Albel must have night vision from his demon half. If she said anything more, he would figure out something was amiss and find out about the secret his mother was keeping from him. Nel quickly screwed her eyes shut, acting like there was something in them to throw him off.

"I think there's dust in my eyes, that's why I can't see. I just need to wash them out with water…" Of course she had no clue how to pretend that she could 'see' after that since she knew that they both still had enough water for that excuse. For the second time that day she felt Albel pull her up roughly by the arm, but this time he slammed her against the wall in anger. She hissed in pain when the stinging sensation in her back returned in full force.

"You're hiding something," he accused with a growl. Nel kept herself from revealing her disappointment that he didn't believe her act. Even if the act failed, it was unprofessional for a spy (even a spy in training) to show the enemy that they goofed on their lie.

"You know it, don't you?" he continued as he gripped her arm tighter, "You know about that secret my parents keep from me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she shouted back as she pressed her cheek against the cold stone of the wall to ignore the pain in her back.

"Yes you do," he insisted before he used his free hand to force her to look at him, "You know why I'm different from other people. Tell me why!"

Some part of her wasn't that surprised that he had figured out that much. He was still good at playing detective even though most of the secrets were from his father. She wondered how long Albel had been trying to decipher his mother's secret. Knowing the both of them, it was probably for years.

"Even if I knew it, I'm not at liberty to tell you. This is between you and your mother," she ground out through the increasing pain. Nel never had the chance to check her wounds, but she was pretty sure that they were open and bleeding. Any dirt getting in there was not helping in the least.

Albel growled and then pressed his body against hers. He was probably aware that she was feeling pain and was trying to use it to loosen her lips. She tried holding back the whimper that threatened to come out, but a small noise still managed to escape.

"I don't care whose liberty it is. I want to know and I want to know NOW!"

"Karen will kill me if I told you!" Nel replied in an almost panicked tone.

"_I_ will kill you if you don't tell me!"

As if he was more terrifying than Karen… She would have snorted in amusement if the situation was different. She had training that tested her willpower so that any enemy could torture her to death without her spilling secrets and at this moment, her training should have come in handy. She was only feeling a …little pain. It should be no trouble not to cave into his demands. But…

Her back was really hurting! "FINE! If you really want to know, then your mother is a high class demon from Greeton. That makes _you_ a half demon! Happy now?"

In truth, some part of her wanted to know how he would react to the news and that was what made the situation different from a normal interrogation using torture. Apparently he believed her because he lightened his grip on her and remained silent. Not that she was lying, but she figured that he wouldn't believe such a story at first. Either way, Nel didn't waste anymore time as she pushed him away from her and met no resistance in doing so. The pain lessened greatly, but it didn't go away.

She still couldn't see a thing, but didn't let that stop her from checking the claw mark on her back. Her fingertips found a warm and sticky fluid near the exposed stinging flesh, confirming that she was indeed bleeding. It was probably nothing serious as long as she got it cleaned and dressed, but it was going to have to wait until she was in a private place. Albel was still in the area, even though she couldn't sense him, and cleaning and dressing her injury would require her to remove her shirt. Sure he seemed to be in shock about the news and he probably wouldn't notice if she did take off her shirt, but she didn't want to take chances.

Albel was _really_ silent now. She didn't think he would be that shocked to hear that he was a half demon. If only she could see him… Nel almost jumped back when she felt a thick tension in the air right before Albel grabbed her arm once again to guide her through the dark tunnel. He didn't say a word to her, nor did he warn her about any rocks in the path, making her trip several times. Perhaps it was a mistake telling him, but then this was better than having her back feel like there were thousands of knives stabbing her.

Sometime later, he stopped abruptly, leaving her to accidentally run into him. He didn't curse at her as he let go of her arm and walked off somewhere. Nel was almost worried that he was going to leave her there until she heard his footsteps returning. She then felt something long and wooden pressed into her hand before one of his hands made her fingers wrap around the object.

"Hold this," he ordered gruffly before he walked off again. She had absolutely no idea what he was planning, but did as he told. When he came back to her, she heard a sharp clack before she saw some sparks. Soon the sparks turned into flames on the tip of the thick stick that she had been holding. Albel had made a torch for her.

Her eyes winced as light flooded her vision and allowed her to see again. They were in a tunnel, that much was confirmed as her eyes studied her surroundings. Up ahead was a small chamber with five tunnels and no clear way to tell which one would lead where. She wanted to asked Albel since he seemed to know this area, but he was giving her a rather disturbing glare. His face was set in the usual scowl, but his eyes were emotionless.

His back turned to her before he began wandering away from her. He approached the third tunnel from the left and went in without giving a signal for her to follow. With no other choice available to her and no knowledge of where she was, she decided to follow him anyway. They traveled in silence and passed many other tunnels and forks. Albel didn't hesitate once in choosing which one was the right path. Nel had to wonder how he knew his way. If all this time he had been guessing…she was going to hurt him emotionally.

The reason why she forgave his inconsiderate actions in regard to her injury was because he was hit with a shocking discovery and was vulnerable to any comment she could have made. But hopefully he had long since gotten over it enough not to dwell too hard on it. A cold dread soon washed over her, he hadn't been walking around lost in thought this whole time, had he?

"Albel, are you sure you know where you're going?" she inquired carefully. He didn't answer her, but she knew he heard her. Well at least that proved he was still awake and paying attention.

"So how did you know about this place? Did you use to run away to here every time you had to visit Woltar?" she continued just to get him to speak to her. Even if he was going to tell her to shut up, she wanted to hear him. Since he had mentioned that the passage led to Kirlsa, she figured that was how he had learned of this place. And once again, he remained silent.

Now that she thought about it, Albel probably wasn't in shock about his heritage anymore. He probably felt betrayed that everyone had kept it a secret from him. And even though she had only found out about it two months ago, she was still just as guilty for holding the secret, "Albel, are you mad at me?"

"No," he replied almost instantly. Well that was a shock. It was nice to know that he wasn't upset with her, but why was he giving her the silent treatment?

"Really?" she prodded, "I thought you'd be angry for sure since I was hiding something from you."

He didn't answer. This time Nel let out a sigh, "…Would it kill you to say something? I'm tired of just hearing my own voice."

Finally he stopped walking and faced her for a brief moment, "Quiet or I'll suck out all your blood. Are those enough words for you? Now let me concentrate…"

He was still feeling well enough to make jokes at least… So he was concentrating huh? That meant that he wasn't too sure if he was going the right way. Wonderful. Had Nel been in her normal mind, she probably would have wondered why she was acting like a little brat instead of helping him with his memory. Little did she know that her wounds were making her a little feverish, but the fever was only enough to make her bitchy instead of delusional.

As time went on, she became more agitated with Albel, especially when he started making mistakes and backtracked to the previous tunnel. Her next thoughts were that they were going to die in the caves and if Clair and the others somehow survived, they would never find their remains. It wasn't long before she started questioning out loud about if he was lost or not. This went on for maybe twenty more minutes before Albel sighed and took the torch out of her hand.

"We're going rest here," he muttered tiredly as he wedged the stick between two rocks so that it would stay upright and not extinguish. She had no complaints as she plopped down on the nearest boulder and rested her feet. Usually she suffered training session worse than what she had gone through today. Why did she feel so tired and in so much pain?

Well, she had never had a large gash in her back during her training so that could have been it. Speaking of the wound, there was a sudden cool breeze that felt really good and dulled the pain. Nel squeaked when she realized that Albel was lifting her shirt to inspect her back. Her usual instinct would be to slap him, but since the fever was slowing her thought process, she settled for crossing her arms so he wouldn't accidentally get a peek of the front.

"I'm going to pour water on this to clean it, but we'll still need to get you medicine," Albel replied before reaching for the bottle in her bag. Rather nice of him considering how he had treated her earlier. It was most likely his fault that her injury had dirt in it.

But then, the cave-in had also gotten her wound dirty. Still he didn't have to push her up against the wall! …But considering how exasperating it must have been to know that a secret was being kept from you most of your life, it was no wonder he had reacted the way he did. Though at the same time he-. She decided to stop her thought process. It was starting to give her a headache. She instead concentrated on the cold feel of water as it soothed her back and soaked the top of her skirt and underwear.

With his task done, he dropped the end of her shirt and sat across from her on the ground. She knew he wasn't going to apologize for what he had done, but then figured that the fact had he tried to clean her open gash was apology enough.

"So…are you sure we're not lost?" she inquired again, hoping for a little conversation.

"We're _not_ lost," he snapped, his gaze trained on the tunnel they had yet to pass through.

"So then why have you made wrong turns?"

"Because I never took this passage from Mosel to Kirlsa before. I've always come through here from Kirlsa and usually get captured by Woltar or dad when I reached the other end. It all looks different from the opposite way," Albel explained calmly, though his scowl deepened significantly.

"And what will happen if we take a wrong turn or two?" she continued as she began to get worried.

"_If_ that happens, then we'll be spending more than a few days trying to find a way out. But I assure you, we are on the right path." Even in her condition she could pick up the tone of uncertainty in his voice.

_Oh wonderful. We're going to die._ Crimson eyes turned to her, making her realize that she had said that out loud.

"We're not going to die," he muttered sternly, "…At least _I'm_ not."

Nel rolled her eyes. Sure. _He_ wasn't going to die. Because of his half demon status, he was going to outlive her and find a way out eventually. She didn't even know why she felt so pessimistic right then, but she knew that if Albel was going to make it out, then she wanted to put some heavy emotional baggage on him to make him feel bad. But then who's to say that he would really care? What she wanted to tell him something that was rather embarrassing, but then would it really matter if she was going to die?

"Albel?" She was easily able to get his attention, but as she did, the tension crept up on her chest. Sure it was simple enough when she played it out in her mind, but actually doing it was harder than it seemed.

"What is it now?" he wondered in annoyance.

"Just in case I'm not going to make it…" she began nervously.

This time Albel rolled his eyes, "I've _told_ you cerise, you're n-"

"I wanted to tell you that I love you!" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

Then, once again, there was silence…

* * *

I accept your anger for I had planned this very cliffhanger ever since I started writing the first chapter. Now watch me as I run away as fast as I can to find a safe place to end the story… Oh yeah and beware of Tuesdays everyone, they truly are evil. Happy I hate Tuesday!


	19. Confrontation of the Stupidnatural

**IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!** Don't go skipping to the part where Albel is supposed to answer yet. Yeah you. I know you totally would… Anyway I was advised to hold off on publishing the novel for a few more months (in fact they told me to wait after my graduation in the spring) and I felt that the novel and this fic have enough differences that I can post the final chapter safely. I'd still hate to see plagiarizers using my fic, but so long as they don't have the novel version I guess I shouldn't care. But PLEASE if you HAVE to post Aquios High anywhere, tell me and give me some credit.

If anyone is still interested in when the novel will be published, then go to my author page and send an e-mail to that address. I will personally e-mail everyone when it goes through publishing and the date of its release. Something tells me I'll probably give up on the publishers and self publish it… Oh well.

Also, I have a new project going on and I'm posting it to youtube. I'm rewriting the PC version of Final Fantasy VII into a funny parody. The link to the videos is on my author page. Please comment and subscribe if you like them!

And now without further ado, enjoy the final chapter of Aquios High…

Chapter 19

It was nice and sunny in Aquios when it reached noontime. The weather was still a bit chilly, but that was normal for a December day. Karen and Sonya were still able to appreciate the sun in the tearoom of the Zelpher mansion. Since their children were off on a field trip and their husbands off on a short business trip to Airyglyph, they had the perfect opportunity to gossip in peace with a delectable tea blend of lemongrass, chamomile, ginger, catnip, licorice, and mint. It was a rare tea blend that Sonya hoped that no one, especially her husband, would ever find. He would waste it in one day since he was a 'tea-aholic' as Nel would say.

"I hope they take the time to visit old Woltar before they come back from their business trip," Sonya sighed before taking a sip of her tea. Nevelle at least swore that he would, but she was certain Glou would make him forget.

"Even if they don't, the old man isn't alone. His daughter and her family are still living with him," Karen replied idly as her eyes narrowed in thought. The demon couldn't shake off the feeling that something was going on. Glou and Nevelle were too far away to cause enough trouble for her to sense and she knew Albel would be behaving as long as Nel was around. So what was this familiar feeling she was sensing?

"Still it would be nice on their part to visit. Woltar has done so much for both our families and we have been neglecting to contact him."

"True enough, but it appears that our 'brave' men are trying to avoid Woltar and I sickly suspect it has something to do with that little vacation we had," Karen muttered as she finally brought her teacup up to her lips. The cooling liquid danced around her tongue, bringing a myriad of flavors that ended with the typical cooling sensation that was common of mint leaves. Karen waited patiently for Sonya to digest her information and waited for a good interpretation on her part.

While Sonya was no spy, she did have a good ability to store innumerous amounts of data and had photographic memory. Usually when she heard something from Nevelle, she could easily catch a lie or find out he's hiding something because his story didn't match with the last one he told.

"So you mean that time when we went to the resort and they claimed that they went 'hunting'?" she guessed with a disgusted expression. She should have known that her husband was still causing trouble…

"Even our children are trying to figure out what they were really up to. Apparently it has something to do with them, seeing as Glou is constantly teasing Albel about it," Karen said as she rubbed the rim of her cup with her fingertip. It was a nervous habit of hers and if she found herself doing it with any glass or cup, then that meant something really bad was about to happen.

"I wonder…" Sonya mused. After a slight pause she then sat up and made a startled noise, "I just remembered! Nevelle said he gotten a gift for Nel and it was to be given to her on a very special day. He told me that right after we returned from the resort. I thought that he meant that it was for her birthday, but he then gave me indication that Glou was doing the same thing for Albel. You don't suppose they're graduation gifts? …But then where on Elicoor could they have gotten them around the Greeton border?"

"Good question. All that's around there is a resort, a shrine, and a 'stupidnatural' demon," Karen smirked over the recent joke about her father. Apparently a student in Aquios started the joke.

"Hmm? What was that last one?" Sonya inquired curiously.

"A supernatural demon. There was one who moved to that area a long time ago, but I doubt Glou and Nevelle would be so stupid as to mess with him…" She trailed off as she caught the surprised look in Sonya's eyes. It was just as Sonya came to a realization when Karen realized what she was sensing earlier. Romero was on the move…

"…Karen… Nevelle told me that he and Glou had hidden something that was now in the possession of a demon… You don't suppose…?"

"Sonya!" Karen shouted as she arose from her seat, "Go search your husband's study and if you find the Blades of Ryusen, then come by my mansion and retrieve the Crimson Scourge. If they did get them, then we may need to return them."

"Okay, but where are you going?" she called out in worry.

"I need to get more information from a secret source…"

Karen didn't say anymore as she stormed out of the tearoom and out of Aquios.

****************************************

It was getting close to sunset. Almost three hours since the whole mess started. Clair sighed as she stared out the window. The minions had long since stopped shaking the bus and were just sitting there watching them. She highly doubted they were merely waiting for someone to just come out, as monsters were not known for patience. Perhaps the demon that sent them ordered them to act as guard dogs until the master arrived. If that were the case, then they were screwed.

If the demon was as territorial as Maria explained in her 'Prissy' analogy, then there wasn't a chance he/she would listen to diplomacy. Albel and Nel were their last hope now. Clair had no doubt in her mind that they were alive, but the distance from here to Kirlsa was time consuming on foot. Even if they could get help, they may end up getting it too late.

Then again, why _was_ she stressing over the matter? Her father was here- and so were Cliff and Mirage. Hell, even she had enough fighting skills to take on a few monsters and demons. And she couldn't dismiss the fact that there were some other students with fighting skills. Fayt must have _some_ skill with a sword despite Sophia's insults. Speaking of the brunette…

Sophia was the first person Clair would expect to freak out, but she was calmer than the whole class. She kept reassuring everyone that everything was going to be okay. True, optimism wasn't foreign to a girl like her, but the teacher's aide couldn't shake the feeling that Sophia looked melancholy as she said her words. The girl looked as if she was going to die.

Whatever. Clair shook her head and dismissed any remaining thoughts. There was no way Fayt was going to let his sister figure die. Maria and others probably would help protect her. Still…

"_You juvenile delinquents better hurry up with that help."_

Fighting skills or no, something bad was coming and Clair couldn't get the feeling out of her mind that it involved Nel and her disturbingly anal boyfriend.

****************************************

"I wanted to tell you that I love you!"

There it was finally out and Nel was rather pleased at the shocked expression on his face. After a few minutes, Albel turned his head away and glared at the tunnel they were to travel down. He didn't say anything, nor gave any indication that he had really paid attention to what she had said. But she knew by his initial expression that he _had_ heard her. Even so, it felt nice that she was finally able to get it off her chest. Though she still couldn't help but wonder what his answer would be. Did he feel the same or was she just hoping that he did?

As the minutes passed, her immune system began kicking in to fight the germs that have gotten in her and her fever lowered slightly. Her mind became clearer, allowing the entirety of the situation sink in. She had just told _Albel_ her feelings for him… It didn't matter to her if he didn't return her feelings, the worst case scenario was that he was going to use that information against her. It was never a good idea to give him such delicate information because he would seek to abuse it.

What was she going to do? She knew now that he didn't love her in return with the way he ignored her. She couldn't take back what she had said either. It wasn't like he was paying that close attention to her to know that she was feverish. She couldn't convince him that her fever made her delirious.

"It seems you're back to normal now." A deep voice broke through her panicked thoughts. Nel blinked and then found that Albel was staring at her.

"We're leaving now," he announced as he stood up and grabbed the torch.

"What? But-" Why was he in a hurry all of a sudden?

"I said we're leaving now!" he shouted irritably before he walked over to her and snatched her wrist. Nel couldn't even fight back as he easily pulled her behind him into the tunnel. He was certainly moody now…

His grip on her wasn't really tight so she could have broken away if she had wanted to, but for the time being she didn't mind. It may be the last time she could be so close to him now that he knew how she felt. She could see that after this moment, once they found help, he was going to distance himself from her. Now that her mind was back in order, she was glad for the sudden rush. Clair and the others needed them to get help and this was no time for her to be worried about the future relationship between her and Albel.

Nel remained as silent as he was as they briskly traveled down the tunnel. She didn't recall them going this fast before, but then figured that they were making up for lost time because of the break they took. But then again, Albel might have sensed something she couldn't. Maybe the monsters broke through the boulders that blocked the Mosel entrance and were catching up to them. It would be easy for a minion to find them by tracking their scent.

Instead of asking about it, like she had been doing since they came into the cave, she mentally prepared herself for a possible attack and kept her free hand near her daggers. She could feel that she was back in control of her senses and ability unlike before. Nel still had a fever and a possible infection festering in her wounds, but apparently her confession had knocked the sense back in her and drove away the delirious fog she had been trapped in.

Twenty minutes later, there was a slight breeze and some soft light coming towards them as they approached the end of the tunnel. They had finally made it to the end. All of Nel's previous fears melted away as her eyes traveled over the Kirlsa cityscape in the twilight sun. Some lights were on in the city, giving a lasting beacon for lost travelers out in the wild. She couldn't believe that it was almost sunset and prayed to Apris that the others were still all right in the bus after such a long wait.

Albel wasn't in the right mood to admire the scenery and quickly pressed on, dragging Nel with him. He quickly dropped the torch to the ground where it was doomed to extinguish among the plant-barren rocks. She had trouble keeping up with his long legged strides and nearly tripped several times because they were running down a slope. But before she could open her mouth to complain, Albel finally said something…

"…About earlier…" he began in a soft tone that made the young spy strain to hear.

Her heart thumped wildly in her chest when she realized he wanted to talk about her confession, "Uh, well about that…"

"You weren't yourself. You had a fever," he dismissed quickly. Nel held back her surprised look in order to focus on her balance as a rock the size of Cliff's brain made her foot slip. Small rocks are more hazardous than the bigger ones…

She soon noticed that Albel was giving her a break by saying what he did. He was willing to forget her confession and pretend it never existed. She was both relieved…and a little heart broken. She knew this also meant that he wasn't going to return her feelings.

"However, I'm not waiting until you're in your right mind to tell you this… So listen up because I'm only going to say this once," he warned with a short glance at her over his shoulder.

She stared at the back of his head, curious of what he had to say now. She hoped it wasn't going to be a speech on why they shouldn't be together or him 'calmly' telling her that he didn't like her. Like what he had done to Mayu.

"I do…feel differently about you. Other bothersome people make me want to kill them but if I killed you, then I know I would truly regret it."

Wait this wasn't a speech about his hatred of her. This was… Maybe there _was_ hope, "Are you trying to say that you…? Wait, what _are_ you trying to say?"

Nel heard a loud growl come from him as he skidded to a stop and caught her by the shoulders. Albel's face was moving close to hers, causing her to fight a blush from their close proximity. He growled again and tightened his hold on her as he struggled with the words he wanted to tell her. His face was contorted with an interesting mix of anger and constipation. She couldn't tell if he was sick or fighting some sort of blood lust.

"Don't make me say it woman! It should be obvious," he ground out through clenched teeth.

"Say what?" Nel was irrefutably confused since his words had double meanings. She knew it was pointless to assume anything related to Albel the Wicked, "I'm not making you say anything. _You_ are the one who wanted to say something."

He almost howled in anger, making her wonder if it was his night to be a full demon. It wasn't until he pulled her flush against his body and had his forehead resting against hers that she finally got an idea of what he was trying to tell her.

"Damnit!" he snarled, "…I love you. Deal with it!"

She didn't get the chance to register his words or feel giddy with the knowledge that he felt the same as she was immediately pulled into the roughest, most demanding kiss she had ever experienced in her life. …Well it _was_ her first kiss on the lips, everything else had been gentle pecks on the cheek or forehead. And just as quickly as the kiss was initiated, it was quickly ended as he shoved her away. His eyes glared down at her and he let out a sigh that was mix frustration, anger, and relief.

"And Apris be damned if you forget that!" he barked before he turned on his heel and stormed off in the direction of Kirlsa. He hadn't gone too far when he noticed she wasn't following and waited for her to come to her senses and catch up with him. Numbly she moved her feet and he began walking again towards Kirlsa. She couldn't believe what just happened. Her hand trailed up to touch her lips, but then Albel grabbed her hand to make her hurry up since she was slowing down.

In hindsight Nel had known all along that if Albel ever did return her feelings, there wouldn't be any soft touches and whispered sweet nothings. This left her with no idea how to respond back. Even if he wouldn't initiate a kiss or a cuddle, would he mind if she did? Or would he just push her away? In the end, she had imagined she would be hyper-actively happy like other teenage girls her age, but instead his confession had left her apprehensive. The only lingering question was: what now?

In any case, her feelings for him weren't going to change any time soon and she was certain Albel's wouldn't either. It was a subject that could wait until some other time. For now she needed to focus on how to get someone to help them. The Runologists most likely wouldn't believe them since monster attacks were rare in their area. And too many teenagers had made many prank calls to them to where they had stopped listening to minors altogether.

It seemed that Albel was already aware of the situation and happened to be leading her to the one person who would believe them. Count Woltar. If anything, Woltar probably knew what was happening. It wouldn't surprise her if Woltar already knew Albel was a half demon and could even predict who their fathers were planning to prank next month. Like Nel and her father, he could see through deception and would realize that they were telling the truth and get them some help.

However, seeing him also meant that Albel had to be on his best behavior lest Woltar treated him like a baby or put him in some random wrestling hold until he apologized. And honestly, they didn't have time for that.

It was dark and the streetlights were on by the time they reached the gates to Woltar's mansion. The guards on watch recognized them and called in to see if they could come in. While they waited, Nel finally had the chance to see Albel's face since they had reached town. He had insisted on moving quickly so that all she had been able to see was his back. But now she had to wonder if it was because he was trying to hide the blush that was still visible on his face. With a small smirk, she decided to admit for the first time that his cheeks were red because he was blushing instead of being angry.

Well it was nice to know that he wasn't always confident in expressing his thoughts and feelings either.

It was tiresome to wait for clearance from the guards, but it was protocol and if they didn't do their job right, Woltar and his family would be in danger. Though, one would think there would be exceptions since Albel was a relative of the elder man. Woltar had a daughter who had married Glou's younger brother and that's how Woltar was related to him… or rather how Albel was related (by blood) to Woltar's grandson.

Nel sighed inwardly when they received permission to see the young lord. _He_ could secure them an audience with Woltar. The pain was beginning to come at her in full force but she ignored it long enough to walk with Albel into the main hall of the mansion. She knew they were going to have problems in a few minutes. Albel and Maxwell, the young lord of the house, had never quite got along in the past even though Maxwell just adored his cousin's attitude. For some reason he thought that being a cold manipulative bastard was a Nox family trait and sought to be better than Albel at it.

Maxwell's father had died when he was really young and he never really stayed around Glou long enough to realize that the Noxs were actually friendly pranksters. Albel was the way he was because of his mother who possessed a quiet evil.

Albel sent a slightly concerned glance at Nel as her steps faltered. She shook her head as she felt head becoming fuzzy and each breath became more difficult. She had been feeling fine only a moment ago, why was she getting worse now? She straightened herself and told Albel that she just needed rest and would get some after they had seen Woltar. She didn't catch the disbelief that flittered across his features before Maxwell appeared.

It shouldn't be any surprise that Albel and Maxwell were near identical cousins since Maxwell resembled his father and Albel resembled Glou with a few differences inherited from his mother. They even shared the same insatiable desire to torture the people around them.

"Why if it isn't cousin Albel and the ever lovely Nel," he smirked before making an exaggerated bow.

"Don't bother with the formalities, worm. Get the old coot down here before he keels over," Albel sneered. He didn't like the look Maxwell was giving Nel and if he thought he was going to get under his skin at a time like this, then he had better be prepared to die. Nel was too busy trying not to pass out to make a comment to deter Maxwell from his obsessive hobby.

"Well aren't we in a hurry tonight?" he retorted as he leisurely strolled over to Nel. Maxwell kept an eye on Albel to see his reaction as he cupped her cheek, "So has he asked you out or something? I've never seen you two so close before. What ever the case, keep in mind that you don't have to settle for a brute like him when you can have someone like me."

He was about to lean in and kiss her cheek when she pulled away and weakly shook her head, "Please Maxwell, we don't have time for this. Go get Woltar. We must see him."

Despite her condition, Nel could plainly see that Maxwell was trying to goad a reaction from Albel. Apparently it was working since Albel's jaw was clenched and his fists were at his sides as he resisted the urge to attack his cousin. Maxwell only huffed at her 'brush off' and placed an arm around her.

"Patience, I will go get him. Is it really that bad to be around me?" he inquired before he pulled her against him. Nel cried out as his arm applied pressure to her sensitive injury. He gave her a shocked glance for her outburst, but he didn't get the chance to ask what her problem was as Albel quickly shoved him away from her.

"Get away from her maggot!" he shouted before he grabbed Nel's arm to keep her from falling over.

"You don't have to be so possessive over her," Maxwell reprimanded in retaliation for being pushed over, "She _is_ a person after all…"

Suddenly he heard someone clearing their throat behind him. When he looked to see who it was, he quickly masked his shocked look with a nonchalant one. Behind him was a beautiful girl with brown hair who was glaring at the young lord.

"Misty, how long have you been there?"

Misty Lear was the only woman Maxwell would consider to call his girlfriend, but they constantly had a rocky relationship because he would avoid acting romantic for her. Like Albel, he feared it would ruin his pride and he didn't quite know what he could say to her without unintentionally offending her. Since Misty worked with his mother in alchemy and compounding, they lived under the same roof and that gave him plenty of time to work the kinks out.

"I've been here long enough," she muttered with her arms crossed. Maxwell thought that she might have been upset with his flirting and immediately informed her that he was only trying to get a rise out of Albel. But he soon found out that wasn't the reason why she was upset after she pointed at the arm that was previously around Nel. It was covered in blood…

Maxwell grimaced slightly, "Great. I just had this shirt dry cleaned…"

"MAXWELL!" Misty scolded in fury. He gave her a sideways glance before letting out a long sigh.

"I know, I know," he muttered before facing Albel and Nel, "You could have told me she was hurt. …Mother! We have an emergency!"

Just as he had shouted those words, Milenya came in looking confused. After all, her son claimed that he could handle everything now that he was a 'man' so why did he need her help now?

"What are you doing? I believe they are here to see your grandfather. So why haven't you…?" She took one look at the bloodstains on Maxwell's arm before her eyes swept over Nel's pale face, "Oh dear…"

"Lady Nel is injured and she needs immediate medical attention," Maxwell said in an authoritative tone as he carefully placed his hands behind his back. He didn't want the blood to stain more of his clothing. He appeared proud knowing that his mother hadn't seen him goofing off a second ago.

"I see…" Milenya sighed before rushing over to support Nel, "Misty, I will need your help."

Misty snapped to attention and ran over to the weakened girl's other side, "Yes ma'am!"

The two women carefully lead the red head over to the next room where they kept the medical supplies, but before they went past the curtain that covered the doorway, Milenya paused to glare at her son.

"Maxwell, you better stop messing around and go tell your grandfather that he has guests before he decides to retire for the night. You will be severely punished if you fail to perform your duties properly!"

Maxwell flinched slightly and raised an eyebrow, "Yes mother…"

When he was sure she was gone, he faced Albel and found that he didn't find it unjust to glare daggers at him. Maxwell brushed off the murderous intent that was radiating off his cousin and then crossed his arms, "Well I should go summon the old geezer. I trust that you won't destroy half the house while I'm gone?"

He didn't receive any answer from Albel and didn't try to stick around for one as he gracefully walked away. But before he could leave the main hall, he cursed when he found that some of Nel's blood had gotten on shirt when he had crossed his arms. So much for a grand exit…

****************************************

They sat Nel down on a cold, sterile icebox before Misty worked Nel's shirt off. They had to ignore her cries of pain as the dried blood pulled at her skin. After Milenya closed all curtains to ensure privacy, she helped Misty with the bra. Unfortunately, all the dried blood made it impossible to unhook it so they had to resort to cutting it off. They allowed Nel her hold her bra up for decency as they examined her gashes.

Past the blood they could see that her outer skin was a fiery red color, indicating infection, but the color of her deeper levels of skin was turning a slight green color. She was still bleeding slightly, but not enough for alarm. Apparently her wounds have been bleeding slowly the whole time so she wasn't at risk of suffering too much blood loss.

"Oh dear, this is worse then I thought… It appears she's poisoned from whatever slashed her. It is such an advanced case that I'm surprised that she is still conscious," Milenya admitted with a look of concern before turning to her assistant, "We need to clean off the blood first. Misty, go get some hot water and rags and then start cleaning. I will go mix some herbs for an antidote."

When Misty left to fulfill her orders, Milenya opened a cabinet that revealed several beautifully crafted silver bottles, all made by Misty through alchemy. She then grabbed a long fluted bottle, uncorked it, and then held it up to Nel's lips.

"I need you to drink this. It will slow down the poison's progression and allow me time to administer the proper medicine to stop it." Once Nel slowly drank all of its content, the elder woman added, "Now I'm not going to lie to you, you are going to be in a lot of pain before I can get you an antidote strong enough to stop the poison. If you think you can make it, I will help you to the bed over there and you can lie face down and try to sleep through it. I'm sure you are about ready to pass out any time now."

Nel didn't say anything, nor did she really think. It seemed she was already unconscious, but her body was on autopilot. Without Milenya's help, she staggered over to the stretcher bed, and climbed in after much difficulty. She closed her eyes once she was settled, but Milenya couldn't be sure if she actually fell asleep. She decided to start gathering the herbs for the antidote since she only had a limited amount of time left before the blueberry extract potion wore off.

For the next hour or so (or days in Nel's mind), Nel felt the stinging of hot water as Misty cleaned her wounds and was relieved to hear Milenya order her to go make cotton swabs with her alchemy. But her rest from pain was only for a fleeting moment before she felt the antidote being placed directly on her torn skin. The mixture did more than just sting, it burned and stabbed at her. For a moment Nel could almost swear that Milenya poured acid on her and it was eating away at her flesh.

Nel couldn't remember if she let out a scream or if it was just her mind that was screaming, but she did remember the feeling of numbness as she blacked out from the pain. When she awakened again, she found herself laying on her side and her chest wrapped in bandages. She still felt some pain, but it was dulled significantly to where she could ignore it. She slowly sat up, not worried about her shirtless state since the bandages covered her, and found Milenya washing her hands and Misty stirring honey into a teacup.

"Oh good you are awake," Milenya said when she glanced over to her patient with a small smile, "The poison is gone and we have covered the wound. However, since you are unable to rest for a few weeks to let it heal naturally, I recommend that you go see a doctor with knowledge in runology and have them cast a cure spell on you."

"Thank you for taking care of me." Nel blinked when she realized that her voice was hoarse and tried to clear her throat, "…How long was I out?"

"Well…I was not sure when you actually passed out, but if it had happened after you cried out, then you have been out for almost twenty minutes," Milenya answered after smiling off her thanks.

Twenty minutes… Nel couldn't even remember what happened after Maxwell touched her. Her blurred memory recalled the information that she was poisoned, most likely due to the minion that had attacked her, and she could remember a lot of pain. At least she knew why her condition was getting worse earlier, but why was she feeling better before that? It must have been some strange serum on that monster's claw. Maybe it was designed to trick the victim into thinking they were just ill and would get over it without medical help…

"I should go tell the others how you are faring. Misty, make sure she drinks all of the tea in that cup," the elder lady ordered before she slipped out of the room.

"Okay," Misty said cheerfully before walking over to Nel with the cup, "Just drink all of this and then you can go watch Maxwell and Albel make asses of themselves in front of Lord Woltar."

"Woltar?" A surge of panic rushed through her as she tried to push the teacup away. There was no time to sit and relax, she had to go explain the situation of the bus to Woltar! "I can't trust Albel to tell him, I need to go!"

Misty pushed her down before she could start walking, "I know how you feel, but you need to drink that tea first. It has medicinal herbs that will take away the pain and help control the inflammation on the skin."

With a sigh, Nel tried to down the drink in one gulp, but then found that her throat was too dry and sore to handle that without choking. She forced herself to take smaller, quicker sips and was grateful that the tea was warm instead of scalding hot. Misty watched her as she pulled up a chair and leaned her arms against the bed.

"Albel was able to tell us the situation and Lord Woltar is in the process of gathering vehicles and a tow truck right now. He said that you and Albel will have to go with him to fight off the minions before your classmates can get any help," the brunette explained, hoping to calm the girl down enough to stop rushing, "I can't believe you guys fought off so many monsters on your own. I suppose you are lucky just to get that one hit compared to what a novice fighter could have suffered."

"I see…" Nel muttered as she focused on finishing her tea. Knowing that action was being taken helped her calm down. But then she began to wonder what exactly Albel had said to Woltar. Why couldn't Woltar get any Runologists or some of his army to help fight?

Misty seemed to understand the face Nel was making and added, "The reason why you guys have to fight is because none of the troops or the Runologists can help at this time. Right now, they are busy holding off the monsters that are trying to break in to the asylum in town."

"What?" This was unexpected. When did monsters start attacking in towns? And when did this happen? Kirlsa looked so peaceful when they passed through earlier that day…

"Yeah. For some reason, monsters are trying to kidnap patients in the asylum. They're mostly going after the violent ones. In fact everyone is suspecting that the last escapee, Randall, had actually been kidnapped instead."

"No Randall escaped. Didn't Albel mention that Randall had been our bus driver this whole time?" Nel tried to keep the panic down from the new information. If minions were trying to capture asylum patients, then was that why they were attacked in the desert? …But if the monsters were after Randall, then why did they chase after her and Albel? Her eyes nearly narrowed in anger at the thought that the monsters thought that _she_ belonged in an asylum.

"No, Albel hasn't said a word about that… but then Maxwell started making comments and then an argument broke out…" Misty trailed off in disgust, "You better hurry and tell Lord Woltar about that. There may be a connection in all this."

Nel didn't need to be told twice as she gulped down her remaining tea and jumped down from the bed.

"Wait!" Misty called before she could reach the door. When Nel turned to face her, a white t-shirt was thrown at her. She easily grabbed it with one hand before sending a questioning glance to the brunette.

"Knowing Maxwell… and Albel since he's Maxwell's model, you'd want to wear that before they start talking to your breasts instead of you," Misty snickered as Nel blushed and tugged on the shirt. She had forgotten that she was shirtless…

"Oh and…" Misty continued, her smile not once fading, "When this is over, we seriously need to sit down and talk. I'm sure we can release a lot of stress together by just venting off about how stupid our boyfriends are."

Nel smirked, "I agree… I'll call you tomorrow morning the minute after Albel infuriates me again."

There were only three world wonders on Elicoor that Nel knew dearly. One was the mental stability of Romero after living many lonely years with half-witted minions, the other was Glou Nox's ability to live after playing a joke on Karen, and finally the last wonder was the enigma known as Woltar. The minute Nel re-entered the main hall, she was rewarded with the extremely rare sight of Count Woltar's …miracle ability. Somehow the elderly man had both Albel _and_ Maxwell in a single headlock and was pacing around with an evil smirk plastered over his winkled face. Both teens were having a difficult time moving with him.

Neither liked the fact that they were at the mercy of a man that was twice their age and had one foot in the grave nor did they like being stuck close together like that. Albel was nearly growling at the fact that his face was touching Maxwell's. Maxwell seemed more disgusted at the fact that his face was closer to Woltar's armpit rather than the nearness of his cousin.

Suddenly the old man made a sharp turn, making Albel curse loudly and made Maxwell to lose his footing and struggle to keep from being dragged around. Woltar's clear grey eyes focused on her and then his evil smirk melted away into a grandfatherly smile.

"Lady Nel, I'm glad to see that you are well. Perhaps now I can hear the full story without indecent interruptions," he said over the grumbling of the boys.

"I apologize for Albel's behavior," Nel bowed slightly while being careful not to cause her back to start hurting again, "I'm afraid we don't have time to teach manners on stubborn lums."

"I agree, well said milady. You hear that boy? At least _someone_ understands the importance of polite conversation," Woltar sneered slightly down at Albel before allowing him to slip out of his grasp. He then quickly tightened his hold to prevent Maxwell from going free as Albel sneered and popped the bones in his neck and back.

"I thought you don't have time for this? Why can't I be released?" the remaining captive sputtered as Woltar continued his pacing.

"I didn't hear Lady Nel apologize on your behalf," the old man explained in an amused tone, "You know very well that you must apologize for that mouth of yours before I can let you go."

Maxwell stubbornly remained silent for a few more minutes before letting out a nearly inaudible apology. Woltar decided that it was enough and let him go without forcing him to say it louder. The young lord then pulled a total Albel move as he retreated into the shadows to glare venomously at everyone in the room. Had he inherited the Nox crimson eyes, Nel could swear that it was actually Albel himself in the shadows trying to plot revenge.

"Now, have a seat, the both of you," Woltar urged as he settled himself in a lavish red velvet armchair. But before the teens could follow suit on the couch across from him, he let out a warning stare to Albel, "And I advise you to silence your tongue unless you have something important to say, boy."

There was a moment of silence to see if the Wicked One was going to say anything in retaliation, but he only 'feh'ed and plopped down next to Nel. She didn't take the time to reflect on anything else concerning Albel and quickly turned her attention to Woltar. It was now time to get the answers she needed…

"Wise choice, boy," the old man drawled as he sat up to face the red haired girl, "Now I have already heard what has happened and what attacked you. While we're waiting for the rescue team to finish preparing, why don't you tell me your interpretation? Maybe you have some idea why monsters are attacking you?"

"Well…" she paused to collect her thoughts. She wasn't entirely sure herself between Misty's information and her own observation (or at least what little she received) of the minions. Still whether it was pointless or not, she figured that Randall should be mentioned, "…I heard from Misty Lear that monsters are trying to kidnap the patients in the asylum and Albel and I recently discovered that the latest escapee, Randall, had been parading around as the bus driver in Aquios. After hearing the news from Misty, I would have to conclude that Randall was the true target in the attack…but…"

"But?" Woltar prodded, seemingly intrigued with the connection she presented. She seemed to struggle with what she wanted to say next. She wasn't even sure if it was a possibility…but Woltar seemed to have read her mind when he concluded for her, "…You think that the monsters were after you in particular."

She was silent for a while but then suddenly shouted, "But why would they be after me? I haven't angered any demons…at least I don't think I did. If anything, I would think they would go after Albel!"

Nel wasn't entirely sure if Woltar really knew about Albel's secret, but the old man didn't ask for an explanation about her outburst. Instead, he began thinking. He had an intense look in his aged eyes as a wrinkled fist came to rest under his chin. Suddenly Albel finally stirred beside her.

"You may be right… I remember counting around thirty of the maggots back at the bus and apparently more than half came after us. You said you were chased by fifteen of them. And it wasn't long after we defeated them together that more showed up…"

"Did I really say there were fifteen?" she inquired in a shocked tone. She couldn't quite remember much of what happened between the bus and the cave, but she was certain that she couldn't take on so many in such a place as Mosel Desert, "I was probably exaggerating…"

"You usually don't exaggerate details like that," Albel pointed out. She couldn't think of anything else to say and remained quiet until Woltar was finished thinking.

"…Tell me, did Randall go after the two of you before or when the minions came?" His question made both teens jump. That's right, Randall said that he had to kill them first like he was possessed or something.

"He did," Nel answered before Albel could. Knowing him, he would only be rude about it and make Woltar force him to apologize again, "He also mentioned that 'he' wanted us dead as if there was someone talking to him in his mind…"

"What do you expect from asylum patients…" Albel muttered under his breath loud enough for only Nel to hear. She jabbed his side with her elbow to warn him not to make comments.

"I see. I think I understand now. You see this isn't the first time monsters came to kidnap asylum patients and now I'm led to believe that there is a connection between them. Perhaps demons can control them and that may explain their violent behavior. Nevertheless, I believe that the demon is after the both of you."

"But why?" Suddenly Nel regretted asking that question as Woltar's wrinkled face contorted into a calculating smirk.

"I think I have an idea, but first let me confirm a few things. For instance, have your fathers been acting suspicious lately? Have they run off to a far off place claiming that they were going on a hunt or to a resort?"

Albel's eye twitched and Nel began frowning before they both let out an annoyed monotone, "_Yes_."

"And have they returned with some items that they refuse to show you?" he continued while enjoying the teens reactions. His smirk turned into a grin when they answered with another monotone 'yes', "Then it is as I feared…you _are_ the demon's targets."

They didn't like the casual and nonchalant tone Woltar used as he concluded his small interrogation. He made it sound like the demon just wanted to capture them for a tea party instead of a slaughter.

"So old man, are you telling me that it's dad's fault that a demon is after us?" Albel sneered while he crossed his arms.

"I'm afraid so. It's not even that surprising after all. Knowing Glou for as many years as I have makes one forget what is normal," Woltar then cleared his throat like he was about to tell them a bedtime story, "Once long ago, back before either Glou or Nevelle were even married to your mothers, they hid their prized possessions, the Crimson Scourge and the Blades of Ryusen, in a cave near the Shrine of Kaddan so that one day, they can retrieve them and give them to their first born child when they were old enough. Then one day, a demon moved in and took over the area and then claimed the swords as their own. Knowing this, Glou and Nevelle reclaimed their possessions anyway. They probably thought they could get away with it."

"Even so, if it's the blades he wants, then why doesn't he try to take them back? Why go after us?" Nel wondered while glancing at Albel as if he knew the answer.

"Well it's not such a simple matter. As demons, their pride will not allow mere humans to get the better of them so they must find retribution against the person who committed a crime against them. And the make matters even more complex, the demon that we will be dealing with is none other than the king of the undead himself, Romero," Woltar finished with a grim voice and, for some reason, an amused expression. Nel stiffened at the name. Romero? Wasn't he Albel's …grandfather? But if that's so, then why does he seek _Albel's_ death? Demons never kill their own kind…

"Heh," Albel chuckled, clearly interested in their new enemy, "So you're telling me that the demon who's supposedly so powerful is after the _children_ of his trespassers? No wonder those maggots at school call him names. If this 'stupidnatural' worm had any sense of pride, then he should be going after father!"

"In a normal situation, that would be the case, however, Glou is protected from his wrath simply because he's married to a …particular demon. Though I must admit that I have no clue why Nevelle was included in the protection pact …well unless Romero sees them as inseparable friends."

"But if that's true, then wouldn't Albel be protected as well. I mean…" Nel trailed off, unsure if she should even finish her sentence. While he knew that he was half-demon, Albel still didn't exactly know who he was descended from. Something told her that the secret wasn't going to last much longer anyway so she might as well obtain as much information as she could, "…Isn't Albel-"

"Romero already finds it difficult to fathom why a human and a demon would get married," Woltar quickly cut in, proving that he was trying to keep the secret going, "It would be too much for his closed mind to think that they could conceive children as well. Romero thinks too highly of the demon race and believes that demons are much too superior to even co-exist with humans."

"But is he as strong and powerful as claimed?" Albel inquired with a gleam in his eyes. Nel knew that look well. If there was a challenging enemy coming, then he couldn't wait to fight them. She hoped that Woltar wouldn't egg him on, lest he'll start making reckless decisions.

"You won't be disappointed fighting him, boy. He has years of mastered power at his disposal and if his strength isn't enough, you know that he will have minions present to tire you out," the aged warrior grinned at the sight of Albel's smirk. He then arose from his seat and made his way to the stairway, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to contact Glou and Nevelle and tell them to help clean up the mess they made. And while I'm up, I might as well find a sword for Albel since this is an emergency situation. …We wouldn't want him holding us back."

Albel growled at the comment and was about to get up and give Woltar a piece of his mind, but Nel placed her hand on his arm to calm him down. They both knew what would happen if Albel tried to attack Woltar from behind… Blind rage always made him forget about the headlocks and other miscellaneous wrestling holds that the old man knew well. Albel stayed seated, but didn't quite calm down. He couldn't forget what Maxwell and Woltar did. But most of all, he was upset that he didn't realize that Nel was poisoned from that minion. Milenya said that it was one of the most lethal poisons that was hard to detect because the victim wouldn't appear to be in critical condition until it was too late.

He failed to protect her and that made him _pissed_. Romero was going to die a slow and painful death once Albel sees him. That maggot of a demon will regret the day he raised an army against him and his woman. …His woman… Suddenly Albel let out a smirk. Nel hadn't refused him so that meant that her feverish ramblings were actually true. The thought of Nel and the possible future made him forget his anger. But soon he began thinking of other things. Particularly of what Woltar had revealed to them about their fathers. All of a sudden it all made sense now. And if he didn't act soon, then _they_ will have the upper hand.

Nel let out a yawn, tired from all the things she suffered that day. Running in the desert, fighting minions, walking through a long passage, and recovering from poison…were not what she expected when she got on the bus that morning. Some field trip that turned out to be… Help was on the way and she was sure that Clair and the others could hold off the minions for another hour. Every thing was okay now. She didn't realize that she was nodding off until her body jolted awake when she felt Albel pull her against him. Her head fell comfortably unto his shoulder and his arm was snug around her waist.

In the back of her mind, she was glad that he wasn't anal about physical contact, but all she could focus on was how warm and safe she felt just then. She relaxed again and was about to close her eyes when he finally spoke.

"Are you feeling better? You're not in pain are you?"

"I'm okay. Milenya and Misty gave me herbal medicines that should numb the pain for a long while. But I'll need to see a runologist doctor as soon as this is over because I need to have the wounds closed," she replied with a smile. It was nice to hear him actually care about her for a change though she could tell he was forcing himself. She knew some part of him cared, but he's not the type to vocalize it.

"Good…" he trailed off. Nel took the chance to glance up at him and found that he was staring off into space with an uncertain look in his eyes. He wanted to say something else…

"What's wrong?" she wondered as she pulled herself up a little to look him in the eye.

"I figured out what exactly our fathers are up to and why they needed to get those blasted swords," he replied with a serious expression. Nel's eyes widened and then she waited for him to explain…

****************************************

The hum of the sand buggy's engine was calming despite the urgent situation they were in. Nel had a tight grip on the frame of the vehicle as she watched the far off sand dunes zoom by. Woltar and his rescue team decided to travel through the desert rather than follow the road because it would lead them to the bus faster. The single road in Mosel twisted around like a drunken snake because the people who built it were trying to find level land.

Glou and Nevelle got Woltar's message and replied that they would meet them at the coordinates once they finished their business. Whatever business it was, they made it clear that it was too important to call off and it they were close to the end of it. So the bottom line was, maybe they'll be there or maybe they won't. It really depended on how scared they were of Woltar's threat. Nel had to shiver from the threat. She wouldn't even wish something like that on Albel!

Woltar claimed that if they didn't show up at all, then they would have to take his place in the charity jujitsu competition and train the people who were competing. Most people going to that match were novice fighters fresh from the dojo and were often known to miss their mark, needless to say that the judges encourage more women to help train the competitors than men.

It was after thirty minutes of driving when Woltar signaled to the trucks following them to stop. Nel snapped out of her thoughts and found that they were on a dune looking down on the bus.

"Hmm, doesn't look too hard. It seems there are only sixty minions down there guarding the bus," the old man said with a smile. It was early night and the moonlight was providing most of the visual aid since the headlights were cut off. Even at his old age, Woltar still had sharp eyesight.

"Not too hard…" Albel scoffed before he pointed at a ridge behind the bus, "There's more of them hiding back there you old fool."

"Oh, does that mean you can't handle that many? Since when have you become such a weakling?" Woltar teased, knowing it would get a rise out of his favorite target. Albel's cheeks reddened as he glared hard enough to crack some windows in the rescue trucks.

"I was more concerned about you pulling something old man. Besides, it's only the three of us fighting and Zelpher isn't in her best condition right now," he justified while jabbing his thumb in Nel's direction. The red haired girl ignored him as she trained her eyes on the bus. She was more concerned about her friends on the bus rather than the small argument. She didn't see any blood anywhere or signs of fighting on the ground near the monsters' feet. After seeing the number of the minions, she was suddenly grateful that there was a runologist available to heal her back otherwise she would most likely open her wound while fighting.

Nel could easily see the outside, but the inside was too dark to tell if her friends were still safe inside. Luckily one of the members of the rescue team had some night vision binoculars on them and she quickly asked to borrow it. With it she could not only see inside of the bus, but also even more minions that were hiding under the bus. More importantly, she could see that everyone was still safe and unharmed. She even noticed that Clair, Fayt, and Cliff were keeping watch and were the only ones looking out the windows, but none of them seemed to have noticed her and the others. That could be a good thing though because if they couldn't see her, then neither could the minions. They still had the element of surprise.

Woltar currently had Albel's face pressed against the ground, leaving the teen to swallow a fair amount sand. Why was it that Nel could look away from them one minute and then find Woltar slamming Albel down in some manner the next? For Albel's sake, she hoped that sand was good for half demons because it didn't appear that he was going to be allowed to get up for quite some time. It didn't take long for Woltar to look up from his little project and notice what Nel was doing.

"How are they? Does there seem to be any casualties?" he asked in a concerned voice.

"No, the bus doesn't seem to have taken on any damage and would probably continue to protect everyone until we get rid of the monsters," she reported as she gave the binoculars back to its owner.

"That's good. They are very lucky then. Well boy, are you ready to move out or would you rather continue eating?" the old man inquired dryly as he released Albel from his hold. The Wicked One gasped for air before he trained his nearly glowing crimson eyes on Woltar. It was apparent that he was about to yell many obscenities and would have done so if Nel hadn't quickly covered his mouth to keep their position hidden from the enemy.

"We don't have time for this," she hissed as she ignored the feel of the tips of his fangs scrape against the skin of her palm, "Use your anger on the monsters."

Wait fangs? She glanced at sky to find that there was a full moon out. That explained a lot with his current attitude and all… Woltar nodded in agreement with her suggestion as she released Albel's mouth. Albel didn't make any noise as he looked from Nel then to Woltar before he jumped up and charged towards the minions with his sword already drawn. Woltar was next to follow him as he used his knowledge in runology to throw a volley of fireballs into the furthest trench where the monsters were hiding.

Nel quickly moved while unsheathing her daggers and charged into the fight. Between the three of them, there wasn't too much trouble in fighting the monsters, however the sheer number of them was bound to wear them down eventually. They needed more fighters in order to finish off the battle quickly, or at least more runologists. Suddenly it seemed Nel's prayers were answered as she heard Clair yell from within the bus before two blondes jumped out. Cliff and Mirage couldn't just sit still while others were getting some action, so naturally they had to ignore their authority figure and join in the fun. In the end, Clair shouldn't have been so surprised or angry.

"Nel!" Clair called from a window after finishing her curses upon the blonde pranksters, "Did you bring help or just a warrior? We need a way to get out of here you know!"

Nel grinned before she dodged out of a monster's way and then slashed him. She knew that was Clair's way of saying 'I'm glad your safe' in a stressful situation of protecting students. The red head attacked one more monster before facing her friend, "Of course! They're not too far from here, we just need to get rid of these first."

With a great sigh of relief, Clair called upon the students who knew some runology (the precious few there were) and helped them aim at some of the stray monsters who might try to escape.

"Remember if you hit Nel or the others, you get a month of detention," she warned as she unleashed a lightning chain at a group of minions that were heading for the open windows.

Albel was fighting much like the part demon he was, often skewering several monsters at once on his blade. Cliff managed to make a lighthearted joke about Albel making 'minion shish kabob' when he saw him. Cliff tossed over ten more minions before making sure that Mirage got his joke by asking if she started the fire yet. Albel let out a sneer at Cliff's antics, but didn't bother to insult him as he saw a minion heading towards Nel's blind spot.

Nel had sensed something coming at her from behind, but before she could react to it, she felt an arm slide around her waist. Once her body was pulled against something hard, she noticed a now bloody minion off to her side with a blade coming out of its chest. In love or not, she couldn't stop the scowl when she literally felt the teasing smirk against her neck.

"You should watch yourself cerise," Albel chuckled darkly as she quickly moved away from him.

"I could have handled it myself you know!"

"Sure you could," he said in a mocking tone before running off to face another minion. Nel growled in frustration before letting it out on a nearby monster. She was so getting back at him for that! …Somehow…

It wasn't long before the last of the minions were disposed of and the students cheered as they climbed out of the bus and into the care of the rescue team. Adray carefully carried Randall, who was still passed out for reasons that should probably remain unknown, out to the medical persons. Now that Woltar had a connection between demons and the asylum patients, Randall may be treated better wherever he's going to next.

"Nel! I'm glad you're safe!" Clair shouted when she was finally out of the bus. She grabbed Nel and pulled her into a hug for good measure, proving how stir crazy she had been inside the bus.

"Clair…can't breathe…" Nel wheezed as she tried pushing her away. Suddenly the silver haired teacher's aide felt a killing intent directed at her and let go of Nel instantly. She wasn't too surprised to find that it was coming from Albel as he glared at her like a territorial dog.

"You should get a medal for this. Not only you survived the desert, but you survived it with _him_," Clair muttered quietly with a quick gesture to the Wicked One, "How ever did you do it?"

Nel glanced warily at the mentioned party and made an exaggerated sigh, "….Well it wasn't easy. It was like traveling with a PMSy demon…"

"You don't say," Clair grinned as she noticed Albel twitch at the choice of words. That guy sure had good hearing…

"At any rate, we're safe now. We should head over there once the last of the students have evacuated," the teacher's aide continued as she turned her attention to the remaining few coming out of the bus.

Since they were in the back of the bus and they wanted to make sure everyone made it out okay, Fayt, Maria, and Sophia were the last ones to get off. Cliff and Mirage waited for them as Steeg and Leiber entertained them with lousy demon jokes. Welch and Marietta eventually became tired of their voices and tried to persuade the brothers to leave already, only to succeed in getting Leiber to go. The girls sent apologetic looks to Cliff and Mirage before following the louder brother to safety.

Once Fayt was nearing the door with Sophia and Maria, Steeg decided to follow the others, but then turned back when he heard a gasp coming from Maria. It turned out that she gasped as Sophia suddenly collapsed to the sandy ground, falling unto her knees.

"Sophia?" Fayt called as he leaned down to check on her. She was huddled over with arms crossed, shaking like she was freezing. It was true that it was a little cold outside with it being close to winter and the sun already gone, but it wasn't _that_ cold to make someone collapse like that. Maria bent down to feel Sophia's head to check for a fever, but couldn't find anything unusual.

"What's wrong with her?" Cliff inquired as he ran over to the little group. Fayt quickly stood up with a confused, but worried expression as he replied that he didn't know.

"Miss Clair! Something is wrong with Sophia!" Mirage called out as she followed Cliff to the scene.

It was at that moment that a really bad feeling washed over Clair. But she noticed too late as she turned her head to face the small group that there was a minion half of Maria's size getting ready to claw her, "Maria watch out!"

The blue haired girl found herself in a rather trapped position. She could dodge the monster, but then Sophia, who was directly behind her, would have received the blow meant for her. Time seemed to slow as the razor sharp claws came closer to Maria as she raised her arms to at least defend herself. Suddenly, just as the claw was about to make contact with her raised arms, Fayt managed to get in front of her and kick the minion away where it promptly landed in Mirage's area and was quickly disposed by her.

"Are you okay Maria?" Fayt immediately asked as he gently grabbed her arms. Maria opened her eyes, not even realizing she had closed them in the first place.

"Yeah, it looks like it only scratched me, but nothing deep," she replied as she examined her arms. She had been wearing a white long sleeved shirt and now the material of left arm was slashed open. Her skin showed little welts, but no blood, "It's only a cat scratch."

It still stung really badly…but Maria wasn't like her brother to make a show out of it. She just grinned and bared it. Nel overheard Maria as she walked over and then sighed with relief. Even if that minion had poisonous claws, it would have to cut really deep in the skin in order to affect the victim.

"R-Romero…"

Maria glanced down at Sophia. Had she said something? She kneeled down once again next to her friend to hear her better, "Did you say something Sophia? Are you alright?"

"Coming…they're coming…" the brunette whispered in a tiny voice.

"Coming?" Maria echoed before glancing at Fayt who was keeping close to her, "Who's coming?"

Suddenly Albel paused in his leering at Nel and glanced out to the horizon behind the rescue trucks. He gritted his teeth in frustration and then began to storm over to Woltar and Adray by the medical van.

"Hey old man, prepare yourself! There are more coming!"

"What?" Nel called as she glanced around. Who 'they' were was not important because the tense air was more than enough to clue in everyone. Not everyone was safely inside a rescue truck and some the rescue teams that came with Woltar were not fighters. If another horde was coming, then they were in trouble.

"Ugh! Why can't they leave us alone?" Clair grumbled as she pulled out her daggers, "I don't know if there are enough people to defend everyone out here…"

"_We need a hero!_" an extremely exaggerated high-pitched voice called out before switching to an equally exaggerated deep voice, "Well then you're in luck for now _two_ heroes have come to your aide!"

Everyone followed the sound of the strange voice to the roof of the bus where Glou and Nevelle stood. Glou held a cheesy grin to hide the fact that he was the one talking while Nevelle kept his 'cool spy' pose. They appeared absolutely stunning with the light of the full moon behind them. However Nel and Albel still had to slap their heads as the 'heroes' were wearing ridiculously bright tie-dye T-shirts. Nevelle's had all the colors of the rainbow and Glou proved that he was secure in his masculinity by sporting a hot pink tie-dye.

"What business trip did you have to have to wear _that_?" Nel shouted up at them, effectively ruining their pose moment.

"Oh didn't you know?" Woltar inquired in a sarcastic tone, "They made a business trip to Dragon Land."

Both fathers coughed as they desperately tried to hide the letterings on the back of their shirts that clearly stated 'I went to Dragon Land and all I got was this lousy tie-dye T-shirt!'.

"Actually, we did have real business to conduct in Airyglyph… then we went to have a little relaxing break before going back to the business at hand…" Nevelle defended as he crossed his arms.

"But the real question is where you really finishing up with your 'business' or were you riding a roller coaster when I had called you?" Woltar added with an all-knowing smirk.

"We came didn't we?" Glou snapped at the elderly man with a blush.

"Um…" Clair started, catching everyone's attention, "I thank you all for coming to help and all but…"

She quickly pointed at the crowd of minions that had stopped to watch them with confused expressions. Some of the monsters seemed to be hypnotized by the shirts Glou and Nevelle were wearing.

"Could we have a little less talking…and more fighting?" Clair finished before the monsters could snap out their stupor. This group seemed to be a little more organized than the last few since it appeared that there were some minion leaders screeching orders in their own language.

"Well… I bet I can take down more monsters than you!" Glou called to his long time friend as he unsheathed his masamune blade and jumped down to attack.

"Should we bet on two bottles of aged Glyphian wine?" the spy suggested before joining in the fight.

"Whatever! Just fight and keep that blasted stuff away from the rest of us," Albel growled at them. He still hadn't completely forgiven them for the wine incident two months ago.

The fathers moved quickly in destroying their marks and made sure to keep near the defenseless students that were still out in the open. Cliff, Mirage, and Fayt tried their best to defend Maria and Sophia. All Fayt could do was throw random rocks and sand at them since he didn't have a weapon but he still fought nonetheless. Even though her arm still hurt a little, Maria was not quite out of the battle as she used a Welch-modified toy gun to shoot small flammable balls of newly marketed 'Lasselle Stink Bullets' (an invention formulated by Mirage). All one needed after shooting a stink bullet was for someone to cast fireball on the target, but the smell was more than enough to stop a minion.

It _was_ a small group of minions considering the number of fighters they had. And it felt like defeating them was a little easier than it should have been. If anyone had known better, then they would have guessed that the monsters were just stalling for time. But why? Sophia made a stifled cry as the air around the area seemed to have drop drastically in temperature. Albel too sensed that something had arrived before a strange quiet befell the minions.

His eyes widened as he felt a pulse go through his body and his mind almost went numb. But before his body could shut down a strange rush of heat flowed through him and he was suddenly better. Albel quickly glanced to the right where Nel had been fighting beside him. Her eyes were wide and glazed over and her body appeared limp. She was about to fall, but before Albel could even begin to move to catch her, something… something harder than steel wrapped around him. What ever it was forced his arms against his forearms and covered his mouth. It was strong-too strong and he couldn't move at all.

The force was pulling him to where his feet were hovering a few feet off the ground. The only thing that could move were his eyes and they darted around wildly to find out what was going on. He soon found that Nel was not too far from him and was obviously in the same predicament he was in. A chuckle from above and vibration from behind told him that _someone_ was holding them. Who on Elicoor could be as strong as this? …Besides Coach Adray of course. If he tried to grab Albel, he would have known and tore off Adray's limbs by the time he started thinking about moving towards him.

"It's time for you to pay the price for stealing what was _mine_!" the captor bellowed joyously as Glou and Nevelle stopped fighting instantly. …Well they stopped after knocking out the minions they were fighting.

The initial look on their faces showed worry for their children, but they quickly hid it behind taunting smirks. Woltar slowly made his way behind the dads with a neutral expression as he observed the scene before him. The King of the Undead held a particularly evil smile as the remaining people froze in recognition of him.

"Well, well, I was wondering when this would happen. Nevelle, we're being visited by Romero the Stupidnatural!" Glou grinned, earning an instant growl from the demon.

"That tears it!" Romero yelled as he briefly tightened his grip on the teens, "Who was the maggot that started that crap?"

No one noticed Steeg snickering and waving in the background behind Romero as he ran off to safety with the rescue team.

Nevelle tsked as he walked closer to the ancient demon, "Temper, temper Romero. You know how stupid it makes you when you get angry."

"It does not! You creatures are the ones who are stupid!" he spat venomously. Suddenly Mirage caught on to the tactic that the dads were using. Assuming that anger was the demon's weakness, then there was a chance to distract him and help save Albel and Nel.

The female trickster pulled Cliff by the ear down to her level so she could whisper her plan to him. When he got the jist of, he gave Mirage the thumbs up and jumped behind Romero.

"Let my friends go, he who was born naturally stupid!" Cliff declared in a loud voice before whispering to Mirage, "Like that?"

"Perfect…" she grinned as she watched for the demon's reaction. However, instead of getting angry, Romero just glared back at the muscled teen and then raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't _you_ fit more into the category of being born 'naturally stupid'?" he inquired in a dull tone as Cliff's eyes widened in shock.

"Wha…?" Wasn't that supposed to anger him?

"All humans are born stupid and they will die stupid. It's a fact of life…" Romero replied, proving that he could fall back on his prejudice to keep from getting upset with insults. Suddenly Albel managed to squirm a bit and rearranged his arms to where he could dig the tips of his claws into Romero's arm. It was enough to make the demon loosen his grip slightly and allowed Albel to free his mouth.

"If you know what's good for you, you'd get your nasty disease riddled arms off me before I rip out your intestines and choke you with them!" Albel snarled as he tried again to get out of his grasp.

Romero was surprised that Albel was even moving. How did a mere _human_ resist his mind numbing pulse? But before he could contemplate it further, he sensed two figures coming at him from behind. The first was Mirage as she tried to kick his legs out from under him, but he jumped up to avoid the attack. Cliff tried to land a punch to the face, but Romero leaned back and then willed fire to appear on the teen's fist. Unlike Runologists who needed to chant and use symbols to cast magic, demons were able to summon magic mentally with will power.

Cliff cursed and put out the fire before it could cause any serious burn damage to his skin. Mirage prepared herself for another attack, but before she could move, Romero decided that they were not much of a challenge and sent spells to the sand to toss them both into a sand trap one of his minions created. It was really only a pit with sand falling on the sides so no one could climb out. Once they fell in, some remaining minions jumped in to attack, but luckily they were small fry and were no real danger to the pranksters.

"…Worms…" Albel sneered at the duo's failed rescue attempt, regaining Romero's attention again.

"How is it you're immune to my shockwave? No human has the capability to resist it…"

"Oh that? He gets it from his mother," Glou replied dryly as the ancient demon glared at him venomously.

"What is that supposed to mean _human_?"

The dads gave each other incredulous looks. One would think that a hint like that would clue Romero in on who exactly he was trying to kill. Suddenly Woltar stepped forward with his hands behind his back in a proud pose. Even Old Woltar had a history with Romero and was one of the brave men who didn't fear him. Of course, the old man wasn't protected in anyway and could have been killed so many times in the past by the demon, and yet he remained alive. It was rumored that Woltar threatened to haunt Romero should he be killed by the demon's hand. The King of the Undead probably didn't want to suffer Woltar's nagging for all of eternity and agreed to let him die naturally of old age. But then this was only one of many rumors…

"Don't you know?" Woltar said haughtily as he fixed a cold gaze upon the demon, "Your daughter really is in love with Glou and she was capable of bearing children. Is it really that impossible to believe that the boy you're holding isn't her child?"

"My Ipiria would _never_ allow a _human_ to touch her!" Romero snarled.

"Ah but you also didn't think she would marry one either. Come now Romero. You should be ashamed that you are trying to place harm on your only grandson."

It was then Woltar's words sunk in to both Romero and Albel. The demon glanced down at the teen with a shocked expression, realizing for the first time how Albel did in fact resemble his daughter. Albel just couldn't believe that he happened to be related to an idiot.

Normally one would be shocked and then humbled if they found that they were related to such a powerful being, but Albel was already used to the shock after finding out he was half demon. At the moment he didn't want to care about it. Also he didn't see how Romero could possibly be more powerful than his mother. Karen had the power to strike fear in the hearts of millions. Romero only accomplished to get school kids to make jokes and laugh at him.

Either way, he had been shocked enough for one day and didn't need to recover from the new information about his grandfather. Albel decided to take action while Romero was going through the seven stages of denial and bit down hard on the demon's arm. The demon king hissed as the fangs sank down to his bone and quickly released the hostage. Albel landed cleanly on his feet before he sharply turned to face down Romero while occasionally watching Nel for any sign of movement.

Romero glanced at the glare on Albel's face as his own eyes softened at the sight, "That glare…so much like Ipiria's… You really are my grandson."

"Whatever. If you don't release Nel, then I'm not only ripping out your intestines, I'll shove your other organs down your throat and then let the maggots feed on you!" the teen growled with demonic anger.

"How cute," Romero chuckled at the growl, "But I'm afraid I cannot grant your request. I must have my revenge on those two bumbling idiots and while I cannot bring myself to kill you, I must use this female retch as retribution."

"Hey, who are you calling 'bumbling'?" Glou complained from behind his son.

Nevelle gave a slight glare to Glou before adding to Romero, "Who are you calling 'idiots'?"

"Would you rather he kill you instead?" Woltar questioned with a sly glance at the dads. They caught the look and knew what the old man was planning. With a slight turn to the side, Woltar threw a small dagger towards Romero and then quickly cast an earth glaive behind the weapon. The King of the Undead couldn't dodge both and allowed the dagger to implant itself into his forearm and used his power to cancel the earth glaive. Once he shook the tiny weapon out of his arm, Glou was upon him with his katana ready to strike and Nevelle ready to attack from behind.

"Slime!" Romero called as he floated out of their range and landed behind the spy. Nevelle reacted immediately as he twisted his body to swing his second blade. A green light formed around Romero's free hand before it caught the dagger mid-swing. Glou made another strike while Romero was busy holding back Nevelle's dagger only to fall down when his partner's body was thrown on top of him. Romero had moved so fast that even Nevelle didn't realize he was being tossed in the air.

Dazed, Nevelle and Glou slowly got up before something flashed up to Nevelle and punched him hard in the stomach. Romero then tossed the spy back to the ground several feet away. Glou glanced at his friend before glaring at the demon and let out a battle cry. The dark haired knight didn't care who Romero was at the moment because _no one_ should ever attack someone when they are down and recovering. Unfortunately his attack was cut off as a green light from the demon's hand shattered his blade to a million little pieces.

Then faster than anything possible, Romero swept down to grab Glou's leg and spun him around before he threw him back to where Nevelle was just standing again. This time the spy was prepared and sidestepped Glou's body (muttering a quick apology for not trying to catch him) and tried to use a special runological spell to soften the ground under the demon's feet.

Romero was quickly able to float out of the trap and land a powerful kick to Nevelle's chest area. With the wind knocked out of him, the spy kneeled down to the ground where Romero proceeded to grab him by the shirt and throw him high into the air so the impact on the ground would hurt even worse. It was amazing and terrifying how the two greatest fighters in Gaitt could suddenly look like novice fighters in Romero's presence. What was even worse for their pride was the fact that the demon was fighting single-handedly with Nel's rag doll form secured in his other arm.

Ever since Glou and Nevelle took over in the battle, Woltar kept near Albel to keep him from joining in. He wanted the teenager to have a good look at what Romero was capable of before he rashly went off to fight something he couldn't handle.

"See boy? Romero has years of power and strength. Do you really think it's possible to defeat someone like him?" Woltar inquired, stealing a glance on Albel's reaction to the battle. His crimson eyes were actually wide with something akin to fear, but not quite as close. This was possibly the very first time he ever encountered someone with more power than both his parents.

Albel slowly clenched his fists and lowered his eyes to the sand beneath him. For once this wasn't about who was stronger. Nel was still in Romero's grasp and the fact remain that he wanted to kill her for retribution.

"Yes…" he finally growled in an answer to the elder man's question, "Someday _I_ will be the one to defeat him."

But for now he needed to save Nel. There must be some way to save her…

Woltar studied him for a moment and then admitted, "Someday…perhaps you will. You may very well have the skill to do so."

"_But can you save her right now?"_ the elderly man added quietly in his thoughts. He knew how much Albel was concerned for Nel's safety.

Romero laughed at the continued attempts to free his hostage between Glou and Nevelle, but he soon desired to finish his business and leave. The stench of humans was really getting to him now.

"Nevelle Zelpher, watch as I eliminate your daughter!" he bellowed as he grabbed Nel by the throat and held her out. Since her mind was still stunned she only dangled helplessly as everyone watched with panic.

"You despicable…!" Nevelle shouted as he ran toward the demon, followed closely by Glou. But he wasn't able to reach them as Romero summoned a dome-like barrier to keep the dads from getting close. Albel's eyes started glowing as he let out a yell.

"Albel!" Woltar barked, momentarily stunning the teen before he could run off.

"Don't try to stop me old man!" he muttered darkly.

"I won't…I just thought you would like to use this," Woltar said as he held out a long thin sword. The sword was Woltar's best blade and had been with him since his youth, "This curved katana has served me well for over 50 years and now it is yours."

Since Albel's other sword was lost to the sand from an annoying sand controlling minion in the last attack, he didn't have much of a choice and couldn't refuse. At least Woltar's sword was more to his style since the other weapon was a double-edged blade. Normally the sword was to go to Maxwell as he was going to be the next lord of the manor when Woltar passed away, but since he wasn't much of a fighter, the elderly man decided to pass the blade on to someone who would find a use for it.

The look of gratitude was enough for the elder as Albel silently took the offered sword and ran off to the barrier. After all, expecting Albel to actually say 'Thank you' was like asking Fayt to give up his plans for world domination or for Mirage to join the exclusive rich kid's club, the Society of Impressionable Youths.

With another yell, Albel rammed into the glowing translucent blue barrier that surrounded the demon. The walls began shimmering and wavering as his clawed fingers penetrated the shield. Glou and Nevelle stopped their pounding to look at the teen as he managed to get his head through the barrier.

"…That's right, Albel has some of Romero's blood and can't be affected by his power," Nevelle muttered before shouting, "Please save her, Albel! You're the only one who can now."

It seemed like a slow progress as his body passed through the barrier with much resistance from the wall. Once his left leg was the only thing trapped by the barrier he yanked his whole body toward Romero only to fall over when his leg was released. The King of the Undead had his back facing everyone at the time so that everyone could clearly see Nel's face as he choked the life out of her. Because of his position and Albel's sudden speed, he didn't notice Albel as he unsheathed Woltar's blade and drove it into the demon's side.

A wound like that would terribly weaken a person and possibly kill them in a few minutes, but for a demon like Romero, it was only like a mildly deep scratch. But still it was the first hit anyone had gotten on Romero. There was enough pain to make his grip on Nel falter, but not enough to drop her. While keeping her neck firmly in his hand, Romero lowered her to where her feet touched the ground before he grabbed the embedded blade with his free hand. Even with the force Albel put on to keep the blade in the demon's body, Romero was easily able to pull the weapon out.

"Well done young one, but like the others, you can't stop me," the ancient demon said as he turned to glance at the teen, "Give up your efforts, this human isn't worth saving."

"But she is! Kill the other maggots, but leave her alive!" Albel commanded with a growl. A shocked look came across Romero features before he looked at Nel's form.

"Are you trying to tell me you were going to claim this female child?" Then his eyes darkened as a snarl escaped his mouth, "I FORBID IT! I couldn't stop Ipiria from her choice, but no grandson of mine will mate with another human! I will kill this child and find you a demoness more fitting for one of your blood."

"Like hell! I'm not going to let a half-dead worm tell me how to live my life," Albel shouted as he tried to lunge towards Nel to free her.

Romero swiped his free arm across to hit Albel in the stomach and flung him to the edge of the barrier.

"You are too young to pick your mate! Don't defy me again young one…"

Albel coughed a few times when his lungs failed him. He may have been half-demon, but he didn't quite have the same immunity to pain like Romero had. Attacking him again wasn't going to work. Romero lifted Nel again and applied even more pressure to her neck, this time digging his claws into her skin. She wasn't going to last much longer…

Albel ran ideas through his head and couldn't come up with any. His usual tactic was fight, kill, and ask the nearest maggot why the problem started…and then probably kill that maggot too. But this situation was different. He wasn't used to using different tactics under time constraints. If he had to solve something without a fight, he would have thought of it in advance.

The only other option he had now was to try to snap Nel out of the spell Romero put her under using the only method he knew: Insulting her.

"Tch, what a pathetic worm you've become Nel… Since when have you become such a damsel in distress?"

It didn't seem to work. Albel scowled before he tried again, "So much for becoming a knight like your father. You're even a lousy spy to be caught like that!"

Suddenly he remembered how it felt when he was almost put under the mind numbing pulse. It felt like a shock to the system so maybe another shock would bring Nel out of the trance. She'd expect insults from him, but what could he say that would shock her?

He knew exactly what would shock her, but he wasn't going to say it. No, he already told her enough and she understood so he _wasn't_ going to say it again. Perhaps a compliment would be enough instead…

"The woman I admire wouldn't let herself fall for such a cheap trick. Just fight it Nel!"

Still no response. A complement wasn't enough. She needed to hear something more shocking, but he didn't want to say _it _again. Those are words for weak men anyway. Suddenly some air escaped Nel's throat and more blood oozed out from her mouth. He needed to think of something quickly.

"You're stronger than this…I know it…that's why…" he let out a slight growl. He didn't want to say it, but his image wasn't worth the cost of her life, "…That's why I… love you. …Because you're strong."

Fortunately for Albel, the barrier couldn't carry any sound to the outside, so no one was able to hear his words. Unfortunately for Albel, Nevelle could read lips. Nevertheless, Nel's body twitched slightly as her eyes became clearer and more focused. Ever so slowly her hands came up to grip Romero's wrist. Since he was distracted and disgusted by Albel's words, he didn't notice his victim moving. Using the last of her strength, Nel managed to kick Romero's elbow joint sharply enough to where it began to bend the other way.

With a hiss from the demon, she was dropped to the ground where she swallowed in some air and then coughed up some blood. Romero probably crushed some of her windpipe…

Albel was there in an instant to scoop her up in his arms before the demon could grab her again. He ran up to the edge of the barrier and stopped only because Romero cast a wall of fire before him. With a glare, he turned to face the demon. Romero's face was contorted with pure rage as he breathed heavily and flexed his muscles with every breath. It seemed that he was so furious that the finally went off the deep end.

Either out of concern for Nel or the desire to further anger the demon by ignoring him, Albel glanced down at Nel to check on her. She had claw marks on her neck and there was a bit of gargling to her breathing. If he didn't get her to a medical runologist soon, then her blood was going to drown her. It appeared that Nel wanted to ask him something, but every time she tried to speak, no words would come out. But Albel knew what she wanted to ask.

"I don't lie, woman. I meant every word I said. You really are a pathetic excuse for a knight." She glared at him, thinking that he was only talking about the insults he gave her.

"But," Albel continued, ignoring her look, "…at least you're _mine_ …even if you are pathetic."

Nel couldn't decide if she should continue to glare at him from the 'pathetic' crack or start to blush at how possessive he sounded when he said 'mine'. The fire behind Albel began dieing, allowing him to back up against the barrier. The weakened flames didn't even burn them as the magic behind the fire was now too weak. It was easier to get out of the barrier than it was getting in since there was less resistance inside. Once they were out, Albel ran to Nevelle and laid his daughter down on the sand.

Albel grimaced from his thoughts as he hovered over Nel when the spy began casting the same healing spell over and over on her throat. If he had expressed interest in runology, then he would have been able to help heal her… Nel wanted to learn it later on in life like her father did, but if he had tried to study it, then she would have probably studied earlier than planned just to compete with him. Now that he was seeing the ultimate use of spells when it came to battle, he decided that maybe he needed to learn it in the future.

Nel had her eyes closed when her father started casting the first spell. In minutes she felt her body getting stronger and her throat slowly clearing up. The pain was fading and it was getting easier to breathe, but throughout the procedure, she felt something wet falling on her face. Her voice was back, but her throat was still a bit too raw to use it.

"…Daddy…you're crying," she managed to get out. Her eyes were still closed, but she knew it was him who was crying.

"I know." His voice was rough as well, but not for the same reason, "It's just that…you were almost gone."

Had Albel been a second too late in breaking her out of the trance, she would have been dead by suffocation.

Glou had been watching Romero in case he would attack while Nevelle tended to his daughter. The barrier had long since faded, but Romero hadn't moved an inch. He couldn't tell if the demon was just stewing in his anger or trying to calm down from it. In any case, Romero didn't like to lose and it was certain he was going to retaliate in some way. He took comfort knowing that Karen told him that Romero has been taking anger management sessions to lessen the demon's rash decisions.

However anger management had no therapy when it came to family.

Romero suddenly screamed out as tremendous amounts of energy surrounded him. Glou let out a worried grunt. Surely he wasn't going to destroy everything around him? Glou's suspicions were confirmed as the now visible red-colored energy gathered into his raised hands. With Romero's power, everyone and everything in a 10-mile radius was going to disintegrate into nothing. The only ones expected to live through something like that was demons and roaches. Albel should survive it too, but since he only was half-demon, his body should be fairly damaged.

There was no way for anyone to avoid the attack. None of the rescue vehicles were even running for an emergency exit. But then they weren't fast enough to outrun the blast. Everyone stared fearfully at Romero as the ball grew larger. Some slowly backed or crawled away while others crouched down to take cover. Albel tried to cover Nel's body with his own just as the demon released his energy blast.

It seemed like time was moving in slow motion, but in an actual split second, a soft blue light emanated from somewhere near the bus and countered the blast. In the next split second, a feminine figure appeared in front of Glou (who was at the very front of the blast and possibly the main target the whole time) and strengthened the barrier so that it would absorb Romero's attack. After that moment, Sophia's body collapsed as she fainted. When the conflicting lights finally faded, a woman with long blonde hair, golden eyes, and colored markings on her skin turned to help Glou up.

"Karen! So glad to see you…I'm in trouble aren't I?" Glou muttered at the end from the glare his wife was giving him.

"That's an understatement," she replied flatly, "Bringing our son into _your_ problem AND revealing his true nature and ancestry…let's just say you'll be cold and dry for a month."

'Cold and dry' was code for 'You'll be sleeping on the couch and no liquor'. Albel had long since quickly got off Nel in fear of others seeing him and was staring at his mother. It was the first time he had ever seen her in her demon form and it gave him proof that everything Nel and Woltar had told him was the truth. It was hard to believe that his mother was a demon at first, but it also made sense in the way she was able to cast fear in people like that.

Romero staggered a bit as he regained his senses. When his eyes refocused, he was angered to find that everyone was still alive, but was more shocked to see… "I-Ipiria? What are you doing here?"

She slowly turned to face him with a neutral face, "Kazu told me what you were doing and I am here to stop you."

"Kazu!" he shouted in surprise before a scowl replaced his features.

"As you recall father, I created Kazu to serve you. But as his creator, he is obligated to tell me everything when I ask for it. Do not punish him for doing what he was created to do."

Romero only growled in response and then cast his eyes over to Albel, "The boy…why didn't you tell me about him?"

"I did. I have told you several times of my son, but it seems you've been confusing him as a step-son," Ipiria replied sarcastically. Glou snickered behind her and muttered 'idiot'.

"But why haven't you taught him anything? He can't use magic and he relies on weapons. Ipiria, the boy fights like a _human_!"

"He _is_ half human and he ages like one too. In a few years he will stop growing and aging and that was when I intended to train him, but for now he is simply too young," Ipiria replied calmly as Romero finally began approaching her.

"I suppose I can accept that, but why does it seem that you're hiding him from me?" he inquired with a hint of frustration creeping into his voice.

"It's because to my growing alarm, I found that Albel inherited your senseless hatred of humans. I wanted him to live as one so that he may grow to accept them. I do not want another you to be in charge should Albel inherit your job."

"How dare you!" Romero snarled after looking like he was slapped in the face.

"Whatever," she countered indifferently, "I do not understand why you hate humans, but I will not have it spread to my child."

"I do not have to explain myself in regard to those parasitic beasts!" he replied with an indignant look as he crossed his arms. It was uncertain exactly _why_ he did hate humans, but it was easy to tell that Glou was the main reason of his hate.

"That's fine, I do not wish to know. However, you will have to accept the fact that I married a human and that your grandson is half human. And while we're at it, forget about your vengeance. If you want the swords so badly, we can give them back to you."

"I don't care about the swords, you can keep them for all I care. I only want to either take the life of that man or make his life miserable," Romero growled as he pointed at Glou.

Glou simply raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, "Believe me, you _do_ make my life miserable. You think it's cool to have a stupidnatural demon as a father-in-law?"

"WHY YOU-!" Romero screamed as he lunged for the raven-haired man, but Ipiria held him back. Behind Glou, Albel silently agreed with his father's words. Romero was easier to bate a reaction from than Nel. Wasn't he supposed to be an all-powerful demon?

"Father!" she yelled to get his attention, "Killing people, no matter what race they are, will not make things better. You need to control your anger."

"I can not just forget it, Ipiria. For centuries those filthy beast have plagued this earth with their mindless ways and THAT man is the worst of them all."

"Why thank you," Glou replied smugly as he examined his nails. Ipiria hissed for him to be quiet before he made Romero go into another frenzy.

"I want retribution. I have gone on sharing this world with theses ingrates and I can not stand it anymore. I can only rest if at least one human died by a demon's hand," the elder demon finished as his daughter's cold eyes watched him.

"You want one human sacrifice? Very well, that can be arranged." Ipiria vanished in a flash and appeared before Sophia's fallen form. She expertly knocked both Fayt and Maria out of her way before scooping up Sophia and returning to Romero. She then pulled out a hidden dagger from Glou and held it to the girl's throat.

"How about this human father?"

She raised Sophia's head so that Romero could see her face clearly in the moonlight. Romero's eyes widened in shock when he recognized the face.

"Dehlarenia!"

"I had thought so," Ipiria said casually, "I've heard that after mother died you tried to bring her back. I have also heard that her soul fled from you and ended up being reincarnated as a human. Well no matter, she is to die anyway."

Albel felt a headache coming. Were they implying that the fruit was the reincarnation of his demon _grandmother_?

"No!" Romero shouted before Fayt or the others could, "Not her!"

"But father, you said you wanted at least one human to die," she wondered in mock surprise.

"But she was once a demon!"

"I see no difference. A soul is a soul no matter what shell it chooses, it's a pity that the soul you care for happened to be in a human shell. But don't worry father, once I kill her again, she will finally be granted eternal rest since a soul can't bond to a third host."

Romero inwardly cursed himself for teaching Ipiria about souls in his job. Ipiria raised the dagger to slice the brunette's neck, but Romero stopped her.

"No, don't," he muttered dejectedly.

"Oh? So you _don't _want anyone to die. Please make up your mind," she replied in a patient, but still sarcastic voice.

"Give her to me."

Ipiria contemplated if she should or not. Reincarnations usually abandon all of their previous memories in order to live a new life, but then… Sophia may still have the memories of her late mother because she was the one who first cast the barrier. While souls were all the same, experiences from memories allowed them to do anything they could have done in their last body. If Sophia still had her mother's memory, then giving her back was _not_ a good idea.

"Let me go Ipiria." Sophia's eyes suddenly opened.

"…Mother?"

"Yes," she answered as Ipiria released her, "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"All this time and you were here…," Romero said in a quiet voice as he tried to approach her, "Then we can still be together, I can ignore the fact that you're human as long as I can have you as a wife again."

Sophia/Dehlarenia shook her head, "No."

"No?"

"I-I want to stay here with the humans. I like this life and how I'm living it now," she said while nervously staring at her feet.

"Dehlarenia, I do not understand…" Romero tried to touch her cheek, but she kept backing away.

"What don't you get father?" Ipiria suddenly snarled, "She doesn't love you! She never had!"

For the second time that night, Romero looked like he'd been slapped

"I-it is true. I was taken by force and had no say in our union. Now that I'm a human, the contract binding us together was broken and I was finally free…" she muttered in a quiet tone, but she was still clearly heard.

"I hate to use a terribly clichéd human quote, but if you really love her, you'll let her go," Ipiria added as Romero bowed his head. After a long agonizing silence, Romero thought it over in his head before he finally nodded his consent for his late wife's decision.

There was a slight smile on Sophia's face as she faced Ipiria, "I'm going back to my new self, please don't remind me of who I once was. I just want to live a new life in the way I want to live it."

She cast her eyes over to the others to see if they would honor her request too. Fayt and Maria were pretty shocked by the turn of events, but she knew they wouldn't say anything to her host. Cliff and Mirage were still in the sand trap and most likely were lost on what was going on outside and the rest of the students were safely hiding in the rescue trucks. As for Albel, she had a feeling he'd rather forget this night ever happened.

"I understand mother," Ipiria nodded as she came closer to Sophia's body. There was a satisfied smile on her face despite the pain she felt when Ipiria punched her in the stomach to get her to pass out. Sophia's lithe form fell over into Ipiria's outstretched arm before she was carried back to her blue haired friends. After the demoness gave the bluenettes a warning look to remind them to keep Sophia's 'inner secret' she then turned to the remaining minions that were still waiting for the next order.

While she didn't create them, she still had authority over them. And since Romero created them to be easily manipulated bumbling idiots, she knew they would obey her.

"You four, help them out of that trap and then cancel the spell." She glared at the mentioned four while pointing at the trap Cliff and Mirage were still in, "The rest of you return home. This mission is over."

The minions groaned as they did as they were told. They wanted to cause a little more chaos and maybe at least maim _someone_. But despite their grumbling, they knew that if they stayed, then they would be the ones to get maimed by their master's evil daughter. The dads and Woltar sighed in relief as the minions ran away and the remaining students minus Albel and Nel were finally in the care of the rescue team.

"Are you _crying_?" Albel inquired with disgust as he gazed at Romero.

"N-no," he sniffed as he quickly tried to wipe away the evidence of tears, "S-Some sand got in my eye."

Glou and Nevelle shared an eye roll from the demon's response, but wisely kept quiet.

"I hope you are happy Ipiria. At least one of us is…" Romero muttered before glancing off into the distant horizon. On the outside he appeared angry, but his eyes betrayed him by showing how depressed he was. Ipiria's eyes softened a little as she placed her hands on her hips.

True Romero brought it all on himself for what he did to his late wife and his thirst for vengeance on all of humanity (…well maybe just vengeance on Glou), but the demon was just cut down twice and left bleeding. He was denied the love of Dehlarenia and a chance for revenge. He may have been a rather evil ass, but he was still Ipiria's father. He deserved to have at least one thing turn in his favor.

"Is there anything non-violent we can do for you? I hate for you to have wasted your time by coming all this way and return home with nothing," the demoness asked as she made her way back to her husband's side.

"You know what I want and you made sure I did not get it," he replied solemnly, "The maggot you married does everything in his power to insult and humiliate me and I have no chance in retaliating."

Ipiria cast a short glance towards Glou and then suggested, "If he annoys you that much, then I could chain him to a bed and not allow him to leave the house."

"Hey!" Glou shouted as Romero contemplated the offer. Ipiria wouldn't really put her husband under house arrest. She would just keep him from entering Greeton. But regardless of how the deal would turn out, Nevelle had a better idea that would appease Romero more.

"How about you take home this voodoo doll of Glou?" the spy said as he pulled out rather pale plush toy that resembled the Glyphian knight, "Then you can just poke it with a needle and inflict minor pain on your favorite pain-in-the-derriere."

The 'voodoo doll' that Nevelle happened to have was made from the remains of Nel's beloved BloodyClaws. A few days ago, Albel finally became bored enough to cross the line by destroying Nel's stuffed animals. So to cheer his daughter up, he got Sonya to help him remake the demolished bunny to look like Albel. Unfortunately, they couldn't replicate his demonic features and so the toy began to resemble Glou instead. Nevelle added a beard to the bunny to spite Glou.

"HEY!" Glou protested again as Romero reached for the doll.

"Don't worry, it's not real. He won't really know if he's hurting you with that when he lives so far away from you," the spy whispered as Romero examined the toy.

The demon glanced at it closely and didn't seem to notice the fact that the 'voodoo doll' had long floppy ears and a puffy cottontail whereas the real Glou didn't have such features. With almost a child-like look of awe, Romero procured a thin needle from thin air and poked the doll in the arm.

"Uh…OW! That hurt!" Glou faked whined as he rubbed the opposite arm. He then corrected himself and rubbed the other arm before the demon could notice.

Romero squealed with glee as he poked another area of the doll's body, resulting in Glou to pretend to be hurt in the identical area. He then poked several other areas (including Glou's family jewels) before Ipiria cleared her throat and requested that he should return home.

"Oh fine…" Romero muttered as the 'pain riddled' Glyphian knight rolled over in the sand, "I hope you come visit soon Ipiria, and bring the boy with you."

"…His name is Albel, not 'boy'," Ipiria corrected him, but she wasn't heard as Romero was squealing with laughter over the voodoo doll. The King of the Undead then disappeared with a cry of joy. Nel smirked slightly from her position on the ground as she watched Albel cover his eyes in shame.

"So now it's finally over. Let us return to Kirlsa and have some tea," Woltar suggested after a long pause of determining that Romero was really gone.

"I agree, thank you for your hospitality," Karen nodded as she resumed her human appearance. Nevelle glanced down at Glou who was still in a fetal position and cupping his balls.

"The Stupidnatural One left, you can get up now…"

Glou cracked open one eye, "…Oh, so he is."

"Were…you having fun pretending to be in pain?" Nevelle couldn't help but ask as his friend got up and brushed off the sand.

"Wha? Absolutely not! …Well a little…until he 'attacked' m'boys. I'm so glad it wasn't a real voodoo doll," Glou replied with relief, "If I lost them, then Albel would never get that little brother or sister he never wanted."

Nevelle raised an eyebrow, "I think one half-demon terrorizing society is more than enough. Please don't have _more_ children."

Nel couldn't agree more.

****************************************

"Good morning Aquios High! This is your host Welch Vineyard…"

"And Steeg Idaho!"

Welch gave him a blank look, "…We know you're a 'ho', you don't have to broadcast it on live T.V."

"I didn't say I was a ho…" Steeg muttered in confusion, "I just said my name: Steeg Idaho."

"We _know_ you're a ho, you don't have to repeat yourself," the female newscast sniggered as she had a hard time keeping a straight face. It took Steeg a few seconds to catch what he had been saying wrong. I-da-ho…

"Hey! Up Uranus!"

Suddenly Welch shot off her seat, "WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?"

"Uranus…you know, that mythological planet the government officials whisper about?"

"Oh…" she sat back down, "It's really called that? It sounds like…"

"I know, that why I said it," Steeg smirked proudly.

"You a-"

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF APRIS!" Tynave screamed off camera, "GET ON WITH THE NEWS!"

Both anchors sunk down in their seats before Steeg cleared his throat and sat up.

"Sorry for the late introduction, this is your Morning Report!"

They smiled nervously as Mayu watched the steam come out of Tynave's ears.

"Well it has been a little over a week since the disastrous senior field trip and Lasselle has finally got all the charges on him dismissed," Welch continued as she gathered up her papers on the desk.

"Even though several students were put in harm's way, Kirlsa officials were glad for the events as they have revealed new research for the mentally …uh _impaired_ if you will," Steeg added while not trying to sound derogatory to the asylum patients, "Randall, our former bus driver, is now the first to be admitted into the new asylum wing for the 'Demon Whisper' syndrome."

"And due to the fact that he can't be our bus driver anymore, the district has now hired us a new bus driver. The streets are now safe once again and we don't have to fear riding on the bus anymore," the cinnamon haired girl smiled pleasantly. Steeg glanced at her before delivering the killing blow to a particular student…

"Yes and the new driver happens to be a former nurse at the Kirlsa asylum. She had resigned from her job since the start of the new research on the 'Demon Whisper' syndrome and came here to try something new. This wonderful and _sane_ nurse is none other than Mrs. Merrywin Fittir!"

The smiles of the news anchors couldn't be any bigger as a familiar male voice cried out 'Noooooooooooo!' for the whole school to hear. The cry was soon followed by a familiar female voice's taunting laugh.

"Well, I'm glad Cliff and Maria are taking this well!" Welch chirped after a pause, "There's nothing more wonderful than a parent-child relationship on school grounds."

"Indeed there isn't. However, due to the new bus driver, the promised segment of the behind-the-scenes of Cliff and Mirage's next prank was cancelled. We will have to instead move on to…" Steeg cut off as Marietta suddenly stormed in the room with a sheet of notebook paper. She then excitedly handed the sheet over to Welch.

Her eyes darted over the hand-written words before they widened, "Breaking news! We just got word from the local news that Albel Nox and Nel Zelpher are arranged to be married after graduation day!"

"An arranged marriage, huh? This must be quite a shock to them," Steeg mused before he slammed his hands to the desk, "We MUST have an interview!"

"I agree," Marietta replied as she headed back towards the door, "I have Lady Nel detained-er-I mean _here_ right now. Lieber!"

The door opened and Nel was shoved in. Before she could figure out what was going on or try to crouch into a fighting stance to fend off her attackers, Marietta grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the desk where Steeg and Welch sat.

"Oh hell," she muttered when she noticed the camera. She then glanced at the news anchors, "What is the meaning of this? Why am I here?"

"There is news all around about how you're arranged to be married to Lord Albel. Care to tell us more about this?" Welch prodded with a smile as Marietta held up a microphone to Nel. The red head's eyes widened for a moment before she realized what had happened.

"You mean to tell me that my father and Albel's father had announced to all news medias that I'm in an arranged marriage?" she inquired dryly as her eyes narrowed and darted between Steeg and Welch.

"That's right. Is this the first you've heard about it?" the silver haired anchor inquired with all the profession of a real newscast personality.

Nel grinned an almost evil smirk before she slowly shook her head, "I was afraid that they were going to do this. Steeg, Welch, your news program is about to get an exclusive coverage here. Before anymore rumors spring up, I must announce that there will be no arranged marriage taking place."

Gasps and excited smiles filled the room and possibly the whole school from the information. Welch couldn't help but question her further, "Really? Do you mean to tell me that you're willingly going against your father's wishes by not going through with the marriage?"

"It's not quite that I'm going against my father's 'wishes', it's just that the arranged marriage is to take place if I didn't have a lover before graduation. My father doesn't know this yet…and well neither do my friends, but I'm already engaged."

More gasps erupted as Mayu zoomed the camera in on Nel's left hand to show off the rather impressive ruby and diamond engagement ring. Steeg briefly wondered if Albel knew about this or if he was watching the broadcast. He instead asked, "Who's the lucky guy?"

"I can't tell you…at least not yet. Until this current rumor is put to rest, I probably shouldn't bother revealing such irrelevant information," Nel replied smoothly.

While Tynave was happy and impressed that the news went on without an argument, time was running short. She signaled to Welch and Steeg to start saying the closing lines.

"Oh but can't we stay on air for ten more minutes?" the cinnamon haired girl whined when she caught the signal. Tynave only glared in response, leaving the anchor to let out a disappointed sigh, "Okay… I'm sorry folks, but it seems that we have run out of time. Hopefully next week we can share more news about this developing story. This is Welch Vineyard…"

"…And Steeg Babaganoosh!…"

Welch looked like she wanted to say something about that name, but decided to ignore it just this once, "…And this was your Morning Report, see ya!"

As the credits rolled Steeg leaned towards Nel and said, "Hey Nel, I'll pay you 100 Fol to tell the local media and get them to come here. I'm sure classes will have to be cancelled while Lasselle tries to get rid of them."

"Not a bad idea…Throw in that so-called picture you have of Luther sleeping with a teddy and I'll do it."

Steeg raised an eyebrow, "Why do you want _that_?"

"Sophia's birthday is coming up and I have a feeling it might make a nice gift," she said with a look of indifference.

"Okay, let me change that question. Why would _Sophia_ want it?"

"Goodness Steeg!" Nel cried with fake concern, "I thought you and your group were the information highway when it came to school gossip. You can't tell she has a crush on _your_ cousin?"

Steeg, Lieber (from outside the classroom), Welch, Marietta, and Mayu suddenly exclaimed 'WHAT!' in surprise.

"Hmm…I guess it's something only a spy or someone with Sophia's powers would notice," Nel amended with a rather smug look.

"You're crazy woman. Heh, Luther and Sophia…" Steeg finally replied while shaking his head, "But fine, I'll give you the picture."

"Why thank you Mr. …uh Babaganoosh. I'll get to the task immediately," Nel then pulled out her cell phone and dialed, "Hello? Channel 4 news…?"

"Oh come on Nel, you know me well enough to refer to me as Kenny Blankenship or Captain Tenneil," Steeg whispered when she was put on hold.

Welch long since caught on to the fact that he was naming himself off characters from MXC and then leaned over to whisper to Marietta, "Just watch, next he'll refer to himself as Guy LeDouche. Apris know he _looks_ like a LeDouche!"

****************************************

As promised, Nel called every news station and every newspaper about her engagement. She refused all interviews for late night shows and public appearings and kept quiet about the fiancé. Reporters surrounded the school, crowded the windows, and some even tried climbing the roof to get inside, but Lasselle made sure that all entrances were locked. There was nothing the principal could do to get rid of them and had to cancel classes so that the students that were required to go outside for gym class would not be mauled.

It was lunchtime when a small crowd lead by Maria approached Albel and Nel at the lunch table. The two were sitting closer together than normal, but there didn't seem to be anything romantic going on. Albel was watching the news on a portable T.V. while Nel scribbled down notes on what looked like to be a hand drawn map of the school. She was probably mapping out an escape route to avoid the news interviewers. Ever since hearing it on the Morning Report, Maria and the others couldn't stop wondering who Nel was engaged to and why Albel didn't seem to care about it.

Though not everyone in the small group was particularly _that_ interested. In order to convince them to come along to support the girls, Fayt and Cliff were paid 50 Fol and a promise of 'something good' from their girlfriends. Though 'something good' probably meant that they were going to spend that money on the girls, but they chose to live in their perverted fantasies. It was probably Sophia who was the most curious out of the group.

She knew deep in her heart that Albel and Nel were meant for each other and that they would end up together, but the 'engagement' left her rattled. Unless Nel had been lying for some reason, who would she marry if not Albel? Also why wasn't Albel upset or jealous? He was extremely possessive of her and wouldn't let her say yes to any proposal. The whole ordeal had Sophia in circles. In fact it was mainly because of Sophia constant loony mutterings and pacing that Maria decided to organize the group and surround Nel to get answers.

"Alright Nel, time to spill it. Who are you engaged to?" the blue haired girl demanded as she rested her fists on her hips. Nel glanced up from her work and then briefly stared at the T.V. Albel was holding before turning back to them.

"Sorry, can't tell you yet," she replied earnestly as she went back to work on her map. Suddenly Mirage clicked her tongue as she approached Nel.

"You can't even tell us, your close, personal bestest of best friends?"

Nel narrowed her eyes as she gazed into Mirage's blue ones, "Mirage, after all the things you've done to me this year, you hardly qualify to hear that kind of secret."

"What?" the blonde called out in mock surprise, but then inquired curiously, "What did I do to you?"

"Oh…" Nel held up her hand and ticked the points off each finger, "You blackmailed me twice, asked for my only leather whip for compensation of one of the blackmails, gave me lingerie for my birthday-"

"Okay!" Maria interrupted before it could go farther. The blue haired girl then grabbed Sophia by the shoulders and pulled her to the front, "You forced us to use to bug guns now! Get her Sophia!"

Smiling brightly, the brunette took a seat next to Nel and chirped, "I like secrets you know…"

"I do know," the spy, "But some secrets can keep you from getting cute things like this."

Nel then held up a picture up to Sophia's eyes long enough for the girl to see what it was. It was then put back under the map before anyone else could see it. There was a small grin and a huge blush on Sophia's face as she glanced at the area where the picture was hidden and then back to Nel.

"Where did you get that?"

"It's a one of a kind picture from a secret source. There are no copies," Nel answered ominously, but then asked in a cheerful voice, "Want it?"

"YES!" the brunette blurted out before she could stop herself.

"You'll have to forget about my secret…" the spy warned with a wave of a finger.

"Secret? What secret?" Sophia said innocently.

"Sophia!" Maria cried out in disappointment as the matchmaker concealed her new picture of a shirtless Luther sleeping with a giant teddy bear in her purse.

"…Sorry, I can't help it. It's so cute!" she squealed even though the others didn't know what was on the picture she was describing. But before Sophia could get up and rejoin the mob that Maria gathered, she began to wonder…

"Nel? How did you know?" she whispered so that Maria and the others couldn't hear. It wasn't like she was keeping her crush on Luther from her friends. She just figured that they wouldn't approve of her crush and didn't bother telling. Up till now she thought Fayt was the only one who knew about it.

"Even a spy can find out secrets, even if they're not intended to be secrets," Nel whispered back with a wink.

"Oh come on Nel! Just tell us," Maria screamed out of frustration.

"No," she replied firmly.

"Please?" the bluenette prodded.

"No."

"Would you do it for a Nelly Snack?" Cliff asked as he held up a moldy banana he found in the garbage. Maria grimaced and then wondered why her brother had been digging in the trash.

"Gross!" Nel cried as she slapped the offending fruit out of the prankster's hand.

"Please Nel, just tell us already. Every minute you stall is a minute I'm not playing a game," Fayt pleaded with a few twitchings to his eyes and hands.

Nel growled under her breath, finally getting annoyed by her friends' antics. She _could _tell them, but on the other hand, waiting would make fruits of her plan so much sweeter. If she waited just a bit longer, she could tell her friends without ruining the plan. But if she was too soon… Well gossip traveled very fast and there was the fact that everyone else in the cafeteria was listening in. With a sigh she faced Albel.

"How's it coming over there?"

He didn't take his eyes away from the screen as he replied, "The worms are finally heading over there for a live interview. It won't be long now, they say it will be in a minute."

Nel contemplated it for a second. They were pretty close, perhaps too close so that they wouldn't catch wind if she told her friends. But then again, a minute in a news broadcast can mean ten minutes depending on any technicalities…

"I suppose I can tell you now. But everyone who is listening in must promise not to tell the media for at least a day. Even if you do, you won't get money out of it." She cast a quick glance at Maria, who only scoffed back, "I've told all reporters not to pay anyone for information because I promised them that I would tell whole story tomorrow."

She figured that money would be the main reason should someone betray her. If there were nothing to gain, then they wouldn't bother, but then some people would do it for other reasons… Well if she stalled enough then it wouldn't matter. Right now the only thing the students wanted was to have their curiosity sated. Nel stole another look at the T.V. Albel was watching. She was right, the news had to delay for a few more minutes. That meant she had to stall for just a bit more.

"Anyway…" she blinked when she noticed that everyone was suddenly closer, "If you guys _really_ want to know…"

"Yes?" the whole crowd of students in the cafeteria chorused together.

"My fiancé is actually…"

"Yes?" the crowd repeated more urgently.

Nel fingered a strand of hair and faked a shy smile, "It's kinda embarrassing really…"

Everyone let out an annoyed sigh or an irritated growl.

"Well I got to get over that… My fiancé is…"

"Yes? Yes?" the crowd perked up.

"His name is…" Suddenly she turned away and rested her head on the palm of her hand, "What am I saying? You guys don't care."

"NEL!" everyone screamed. The spy snickered lightly at their frustrated expressions.

"Are you maggots really that stupid? She's engaged to _me_ you fools!" Albel growled as he finally turned away from the T.V.. Apparently Nel wasn't just annoying the crowd with her stalling. There was a stunned silence and a sea of extremely wide eyes.

"…You couldn't hold out for a few more minutes? Now everyone knows our secret," Nel pouted slightly as she crossed her arms. Though she was only acting, some part of her really was disappointed that the game was over. It was a little fun baiting the crowd like that.

"It doesn't matter," Albel shook his head as he shoved the T.V. over to her, "It's starting."

Nel, Albel, and as many people who could see over them watched as a crew of reporters approached the front entrance of the Zelpher mansion. The main interviewer, an averaged sized tan-skinned man, knocked on the door only to have it answered by the butler. The crew was refused entry, but was promised that the knights would be out shortly. During the waiting period the reporter reviewed the entire story up to the current point and showed clips of the only interview Nel gave in the Morning Report.

Nevelle then came out with Glou who 'happened' to be visiting at the time. Okay, so the whole world knew that they were joined at the hip. The reporters didn't care as it only made their jobs much easier. The two knights put on charming smiles for the camera thinking that they were here to talk about the arranged marriage they announced earlier.

"What can we do you for Pace?" Glou inquired to the main reporter. He had been through so many alleged scandals and rumors (some of which were started by Nevelle) in Airyglyph that he knew every single news reporter by name.

"Well Sir Glou, we came by to find more clues about this mystery boy that Lady Nel mentioned in an interview at her school," Pace replied clearly into his microphone. The dads glanced at each other in confusion.

"Mystery boy?" the spy echoed as Glou crossed his arms.

"Are you talking about Albel? He's not _that_ much of a mystery, he just …well…takes after his mother," Glou said with a grin leaving confused looks from the news crew. Not even the news could figure out that his wife was a demon or that Albel had some supernatural powers from her.

"Uh…no sir. We're not talking about your son. We were wondering about another boy, perhaps someone you don't want your daughter near, Sir Nevelle?" Pace inquired as he turned to the spy.

"Excuse me?" Nevelle answered with shock.

"Lady Nel announced this morning that there will be no arranged marriage because she was engaged to someone else. Would this mean that there was another boy you were trying to keep her from with this marriage?"

"What? No… We arranged this because we thought our children didn't have anyone else…" the red haired man trailed off as he caught on to the first part, "Did you say she was _engaged_?"

"Yes. That was what she said this morning sir," Pace replied with a professional straight face.

"To who?" Glou suddenly blurted out.

"We don't know. Lady Nel didn't say." The reporter shook his head, "This is why we came to talk to you. We thought you might have some clues."

"Well she _does_ have other male friends…but as far as we know, they're already in relationships," the dark haired knight said after some deep thought.

"I thought I knew everything about my little girl…" Nevelle muttered in a dejected tone as he stared at the ground.

"I don't like this," Glou commented firmly, "We'll have to investigate this on our own."

"We'll contact you if we find out anything," Nevelle added before they both ran back into the house. While they did appear calm, there was no mistaking the worried panic coming from them.

Pace only blinked at the knights' retreat before he calmly faced the camera, "So it appears that this is a mystery that even Sir Nevelle couldn't solve. Who could she be hiding that she doesn't even want to own father to know about? We will try to investigate further. Back to you Sam."

Nel and Albel burst into laughter (with Albel's being a bit more evil than Nel's) as the small report ended. They were acting like their favorite sports team just won a major tournament with the way they were being so friendly with each other. Fayt and the others only stared at each other, not quite sure what was going on anymore.

"Did you see your dad?" Nel shouted between breaths, "He looked like he was about to have a conniption!"

"Heh, this will teach them…"

"Uh, sorry for ruining your happy celebrations, but…what?" Maria started from behind them, "Never mind what just happened on the news, what I want to know is what was the point of telling everyone that you were engaged when you were going to have to marry him anyway?"

Albel was in too good a mood to have to explain anything to a worm and so thus ignored her as he changed the channel to some heavy metal music show. Nel rolled her eyes at his reaction and then moved away from him so that her friends could hear her over the loud music.

"I said it to get back at our dads. A few days ago we realized what they were up to and had to pull a step ahead of them," she started as she walked away from the table.

Back at Woltar's mansion during that fateful fieldtrip, Albel told her that he found out that the Blades of Ryusen and the Crimson Scourge were to be wedding gifts for them. After Nel got over her shock and rage over it, Albel finally pulled out the object he had been hiding in his pocket and proposed. She still wore the ring even though at first he made it sound like the engagement was to only prank their fathers.

He told her that it was either to say yes now or be forced to later for the arranged marriage. They had confessed their love for each other earlier, but Albel acted as if he didn't care that he was asking her, making her think that he made up his feelings so that she would go along with his plan. Back then she felt that she had no choice and accepted and after that she was glad she did because she then knew how Albel truly felt when she had been under Romero's spell and less than two minutes away from death.

"You got back at them by saying that you were engaged?" Sophia inquired in confusion.

"Well, notice I only said that and nothing else. Everyone assumed that I was engaged to another person and that information carried on to my father and Glou, who as you just saw had a few heart attacks hearing it," Nel chuckled smugly.

"Well fine, you just one-upped your dads after many years of them tricking you," Mirage began, appearing to be a little upset over this, "You only got them once, aren't you going to do more so that you're even?"

Cliff then appeared over his girlfriend's shoulder, smelling like rotten foods, "And if you are, can we help you with some ideas? I've always wanted to prank Al's dad!"

Mirage seemed unfazed by the offending smell, but Nel had to wave her hand before her nose.

"Thank you for the offer, but we have no need of childish pranks. Besides, this marriage thing was Glou's plan since I was three and for it to fall apart at the seams right when he executed it must be too much for him to bear. I think this is more than enough of revenge." Nel blinked as she realized that the pranksters weren't listening to her.

Cliff was really looking for an excuse for Mirage to smell him and get her judgment. She whispered to him, "Dig deeper in the garbage, you still have a lingering scent of the stink bullets Maria shot at you…"

Apparently Mirage's invention was so bad that smelling like garbage was better than smelling like the bullets.

Nel pinched the bridge of her nose to try to stop the incoming headache and then faced everyone else, "Is that all you needed to know?"

The whole cafeteria murmured with bored, disappointed noises as the students dispersed and went back to their tables. Fayt grumbled more than anyone as he pulled out his hand held, "This wasn't worth fifty Fol and missing more than fifteen minutes of my Zelda fix…"

Maria shook her head as she turned to the cafeteria doors, "Sophia, Fayt, let's go…"

"So what are we going to do now, Maria?" Sophia wondered as they began walking.

"The same thing we do everyday, Sophia," the blue haired girl replied as if it was obvious.

"Try to take over the world?" Fayt supplied in a hopeful tone.

"No. Meddle in other people's lives. Besides…" she glanced at Sophia and gestured towards Nel, "Don't you need to plan for someone's wedding?"

"Narf!" Sophia chirped happily as Fayt hummed the tune to 'Pinky and the Brain'.

And that's how the good stories end…by ripping off endings of popular 90's cartoons.

THE END

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Yes there are holes in the story and many unanswered questions, but they are all answered in the novel. I hope this 'shortened' ending was satisfying enough for you. I liked it anyway. Well I'm going back to work on my Final Fantasy AWESOME project, I hope you guys come and watch it! See ya!


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